Kosciuszko Commemorated At West Point – May 3rd & 4th
NEW YORK – The American Association of the Friends of Kosciuszko at West Point (AAFKWPT) invite the Polish community to attend the annual General Tadeusz Kosciuszko events on Friday, May 3rd and Saturday, May 4th. First, an academic conference with morning and afternoon sessions will be held on Friday, May 3rd, beginning at 9 a.m. Participation in this conference requires filling out a registration form (see below). Second, on Saturday, May 4th, a Holy Mass will be celebrated at the Cadet Chapel of the Holy Trinity at 8 a.m., followed by a parade known as the Cadet Review, and then commemorative events including speeches at the Kosciuszko Monument. Participants who wish to have lunch at West Point on May 4th must pay in advance and are required to fill out a registration form.
As is the practice of AAFKWP Conferences, both a continental breakfast and lunch will be served on site in the Eisenhower Room so as to maintain all participants in one location for the convenience of all conferees. The morning session will feature the following speakers on the subject of the 233rd Anniversary of Poland’s Constitution of May 3, 1791:
***Anthony J. Bajdek, AAFKWP Founder and President; Retired Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer in History, Northeastern University, Boston, MA; Author; AAFKWP Welcome and Overview.
***Steven W. Gilland, Lieutenent General, U. S. Army, 61st Superintendant, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY: USMA Welcome.
***Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski, Ph.D., Blejwas Professor of Polish and Polish American Studies, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain; Distinguished Author and Educator.
***Patrice Dabrowski, Ph.D., Associate of the Harvard University Ukrainian Institute; Distinguished Author and Educator.
***James S. Pula, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Purdue University; Distinguished Author and Educator, Kosciuszko Biographer.
***Vincent Rospond, Independent Historian, Author, and Publisher, Point Pleasant, NJ.
***Robert A. Vitas, Ph.D., Chair, Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, Chicago, IL; Distinguished Author and Educator.
Each speaker will engage in a particular aspect of the May 3, 1791 Polish Constitution.
Speakers at the afternoon session of the Kosciuszko Conference will present new perspectives on the establishment of NATO in this 75th anniversary year of the Washington Treaty of April 4, 1949. The afternoon session’s title: “NATO’S Challenges Past and Present”: Same European Faces, including NATO Aspiring Ukraine and the Same Bad Actors East of NATO’s border. Featured speakers will be:
***Stephen N. Olejasz, AAFKWP Founding Executive Vice President; Lieutenant Colonel (U. S. Army, Retired); Former Assistant Professor of History, USMA; Afternoon Session Moderator, Overview and Introductions:
***Krzysztof Nolbert, Republic of Poland Major General and Defense Attache, Embassy of Poland, Washington, DC.
***Mindaugas Mazonas, Republic of Lithuania Colonel and Defense Attache, Embassy of Lithuania, Washington, DC.
More details about the May Commemorative Events appear on the web site of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF KOSCIUSZKO AT WEST POINT, a 501 (c) (3) entity established in 2003 by then Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer in History at Northeastern University in Boston, Anthony J. Bajdek, who re-launched Kosciuszko commemorative events at West Point, which began in 1828.
The general theme of the annual commemorations organized by the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF KOSCIUSZKO AT WEST POINT, a 501 (c) (3) entity, will be: AMERICA AND POLAND PARTNERS IN FREEDOM. The title of the 2024 Tadeusz Kosciuszko Conference is: Enduring Strategic and Tactical Anniversaries and Their Legacies: Poland’s Constitution of May 3, 1791; and Creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on April 4, 1949.
The message of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF KOSCIUSZKO AT WEST POINT commemorative events is: AMERICA AND POLAND: PAST AND PRESENT PARTNERS IN FREEDOM.
Please click for registration form: TKC 2024 DRUGI (1)
WEST POINT
Before it became the site of the United States Military Academy, West Point was a fort on the west bank of the Hudson River with the mission of stopping, with a chain and artillery, British ships based in New York City from sailing up the river to divide New England from the Middle Atlantic Colonies, and thereby defeat the American patriots. General Washington appointed Kosciuszko to fortify West Point.
