Dawson County NeArchives Obituaries.....Lesniowski, Marian B. “Frenchy” March 7, 2009
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Danny Gruber danny.gruber@yahoo.com July 8, 2010, 2:46 pm

Lexington Clipper-Herald March 21, 2009
Marian B. “Frenchy” Lesniowski, 83, of Lexington, died Saturday, March 7, 
2009, at Plum Creek Care Center in Lexington. 

A graveside service was held for Frenchy on Friday, March 13, 2009, at 11:00 
a.m. at Evergreen Cemetery in Lexington with the Rev. Paul Colling 
officiating.  

He is survived by many friends and acquaintances.    

Frenchy never married and had no children.  His parents and siblings preceded 
him in death.   

He was born Sept. 8, 1925, at Krakow, Poland to Wincenty and Irma Nee (Ebel) 
Lesniowski.  Frenchy was the eldest of five children.   

In 1939, 14-year-old Frenchy was in a bread line when KGB soldiers ordered him 
and others in the line into their trucks.  He was taken to a Russian labor 
camp close to Siberia.  He escaped in 1940 and walked home to Poland.  In 
1942, he was a few yards from his polish farm home when the Nazis picked him 
up.  He was taken to Dachau, the first German concentration camp established 
in 1933.  Dachau was the model and training center for all other S.S. 
organized camps.  In WWII, the major camp was supplemented by about 150 
branches in southern Germany and Austria.   

This camp was the first and most important camp at which laboratories were set 
up to perform medical experiments.  Such experiments and the harsh living 
conditions made Dachau one of the most notorious camps.  While at Dauchau, 
Frenchy was in a weakened condition and near death.  His body was pitched into 
a ditch in 1943.  The Polish Resistance rescued him. 
   
Frenchy heard that Polish exile Prime Minister General Sirkorski was rallying 
the freedom fighting polish in England.  Frenchy and others made their way 
across Europe through France and then to Spain.  While making his way across 
Europe, he was so hungry that he could smell food cooking in a farm house two 
miles away.  Many farmers and other groups hid and aided them.  Spanish 
fishermen took Frenchy and others to England.   

Sept. 21, 1944, found Frenchy and others in England where Frenchy reunited 
with his brother.  There were 80,000 free Polish that had beckoned to Polish 
General Sikorsnis’s call.  The Polish nation was the only nation that served 
on all fronts in WWII.  Poland was the first and only nation that said “No” to 
Hitler and because of that they paid dearly. 
  
Frenchy saw action all over Europe.  He volunteered for service abroad.  He 
was in the battle of Monte Cassino, Italy and also on a ship that transported 
captured S.S. officers.  His brother was killed on that ship by an S.S. 
officer.  
 
Frenchy received the France and Germany Star medal which was a Campaign medal 
of British Commonwealth awarded for service during WWII.  It was awarded for 
operational service in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Germany 
from June 6, 1944, to May 8, 1945.  The War medal 1939-1945, was also bestowed 
to Frenchy.  It was a British decoration awarded to those who had served in 
the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines full time for at least 28 days between 
Sept. 3, 1939 and Sept. 2, 1945.  
 
Frenchy attained the rank of corporal for his service with the Polish forces 
under British command from September, 1944 to September, 1947, and service 
with the Polish Resettlement Corp on Oct. 6, 1947 to R.A. Res. Class “W” on 
Jan. 1, 1948.  He was finally discharged on Sept. 6, 1949.  
 
Frenchy immigrated to the United States after 1958, with a visa.  He received 
his certificate of naturalization to the United States of America in 1967.   
Prior to WWII, Frenchy was a turner-goldsmith apprentice.  After the war, he 
was employed at a Goodyear tire factory in England.  He was also a Formica 
foreman and could install countertops.  He was a carpenter, minor repair 
plumber, automotive mechanic’s helper, a rigger in a steel factory and a 
router.   
 
He was employed by the Union Pacific Railroad as a club porter, driver 
dispatcher, outfit helper on the system steel gang, operated heavy equipment, 
and was also a cook.  
 
Frenchy’s service in WWII and as an employee for the Union Pacific Railroad 
made him well-traveled. 
  
Frenchy was an icon in Lexington.  He knew everyone he met.  He was warm, 
friendly and had a good sense of humor.  His trademarks were his harmonica, 
keeping time to music with spoons and his butterscotch candy that he gave to 
whomever he met.  He was described as a “little man in stature, but had a big 
heart”.  


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