REMEMBRANCE DAY VETERAN

Victor Kijanko, 84, dreads Remembrance Day. 

“On this day, nightmares haunt me,” the Polish veteran says.  “Even 100 pills don’t help me sleep.” 

As a youth, Kijanko was captured by Stalin’s regime, transported to Kazakhstan, and placed in forced labour camps.  Recruited by the British to fight Nazis in World War II, he joined the Polish 16 regiment on January 19, 1942. 

Kijanko, recognized for his versatility, was assigned to numerous posts in 17 countries.  He served as Morality Officer, Traffic Control Operator, Military Policeman, Clerk, and Trainer, teaching wilderness survival skills to soldiers.

Kijanko traveled by motorcycle and was thrown off whenever bombs exploded.

“It damaged my joints, but only showed up later in life,” he explains.

Kijanko hesitates to share war stories. 

“Most memories I have make me sick; why would I want to make others ill?  This is the nice version; the other version would make you puke.”

Kijanko cites examples: finding a friend’s head two kilometers away from where he was blown to pieces; killing Nazis hiding in a church;  the many friends lost during bloody battles on Italy’s infamous Monte Cassino.  Bodies thrown into crevices prevented spread of diseases to remaining soldiers. 

Following defeat of the Nazis, Kijanko, discharged on October 15, 1946, moved to Canada.  For security reasons, he changed his name from Kijanowski after the war.

“If someone remembers you, they come after you.”

Kijanko says scars remain.  Damages sustained meant he could never produce children.  During battle, a piece of shrapnel shot through his left eye, the metal only removed this year.  He breathes through his left eye and has no septum.

Emotional wounds run deeper.

“Saying man is created in the image of God is the worst insult to a higher power, because no creature other than man is capable of so much evil.  I still see it every night in my dreams.”