Gregory Peter Gramiak and Victor J Gramiak

[Elliven]

The above two young men were both killed in WW2.  Their parents and sister are also now deceased so I cannot ask the family about them.

Gregory came to England and joined 304 Polish Squadron of the Royal Air Force but before he came over, he must have made arrangements to enlist.  His brother, Victor was killed in the Netherlands whilst flying with the USAAF.  Both died tragically and were buried overseas.  In 1949/50 their bodies were exhumed and returned to the US where they were buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, New Jersey.

Can anyone suggest where they enlisted and trained.  Thank you.

[SLStephens]

Several hits on Victor by Googling his name, including:

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/215694 - this tells about his unit and where they trained,

and this one re: Gregory:

http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/57984-unidentified-grave/

[Elliven]

Hello,

I was well aware of the item on Gregory because it is my thread on the site!  But the item on Victor, I had never seen before - so that is a big plus for me and I am very grateful that you have drawn my attention to it.  This has been a really complicated investigation and every extra detail is valuable.

I know everything about their deaths, but their lives were even more complicated!  They were Poles (second generation - born in America) and are much harder to track than if they were born and lived in Poland.  Can you believe that!

Anyway, thanks again for your contribution.

[SLStephens]

I thought that might have been your posts about Gregory, but the name of the poster appeared different from here, but now that I look back(ward), I see the connection!

I can't even find their parents Paul and Victoria in the 1930 or 1940 census records at this time.  If I find anything that might be helpful, I'll post it here.

[Elliven]

Thank you,

I really do appreciate that.  Can I just mention that, in various records, they jump backwards and forwards between the Polish and English versions of their names - Pawel/Paul; Wictoria/Victoria; Wictor/Victor and Grzegorz/Gregory with the little extra of George (which would be Jerzy in Polish!)

Regards
Elliven (Neville - just for good measure!)

[SLStephens]

When I sent a message to the person who has control of the findagrave.com memorial for Gregory (listed as George P. Gramiak), she stated that she would not change it to Gregory even though that's his name on the grave marker, since he was always known as George.  Is that true??

[Elliven]

Yes,

That appears to be true.  I think that this only applied in the USA because every record I have in England and in military files shows him as Grzegorz.  Only in New Jersey is he known as Gregory or George.  I think this is just a little quirk of human nature and, in England, he could use any name he chose providing there was no intent to deceive - I don't know if it is the same in America

[Elliven]

I have heard that there is a previously unmentioned brother whom I cannot name here as he is believed to be still living.  Do you know how I might find him?

[SLStephens]

First check the Social Security Death Index (Google it) to see if he has died.  Also check www.findagrave.com for his name.  Then you could check www.whitepages.com to see if he is listed.