Hi I live in rugby Warwickshire and my local graveyard contains the grave a polish gentleman Jan Orlowski 14/7/1905-12/02/1991 he has an inscription on his grave saying "Kawaler Orderu Virtuti Militari" he was obviously a very brave man. I just wondered if anybody could shed light on this guy. bit vague but I see his grave most days and would love to know if anybody knew anything.
I checked and I found him on a list of recipients and it appears that he was a Major. There was no other information.It was possible for an entire regiment/unit to receive the award. In UK records he showed up in 1961 living at 26 Bath Street in Rugby and working as a clerk. Also living at that address is Stefanie Orlowski, birth place Poland (so maybe his wife?) working as an assistant cook. You could go along to the street and see if anyone remembers him and knows anything about him. He only died 25 years ago so there would certainly be people in the area who are in their sixties/seventies/eighties now and might have have known him. He may have had children who still live locally. Your best bet is to search locally first.
About ten years ago a book including a full list of all recipients of the Order from 1792-1992 was published by a Polish-American, Dr Zdisław Wesołowski. His contact details were:
Dr Z P Wesołowski PO Box 291465 Davie FL 33329 USA
The book cost 75 dollars - yikes. But if you wrote to him he might just check the list for you as a courtesy. He's also on LinkedIn:
