Polish veterans monument to move to Poland, Ohio

Staff report

POLAND

A monument to Polish veterans of World Wars I and II, which stood for four decades outside a Polish-American social hall on Youngstown’s South Side, will be rededicated June 25 in Peterson Park in the center of the Village of Poland, Ohio, during a Celebrate Poland weekend.

The granite monument was removed last week from the front of the vacant former Krakusy Hall on South Avenue in Youngstown and placed in storage pending its installation on a new foundation in Peterson Park, according to Aundrea Cika Heschmeyer, director of Polish Youngstown.

In its new location, the monument will accompany life-size statues of Polish Gens. Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who fought alongside the colonists in the American Revolutionary War.

Polish Youngstown, a local umbrella group of Polish-American churches and lodges, which raised money to relocate the monument, plans to raise additional funds to install a flagpole in the monument’s new location and make the new location more handicapped-accessible.