Walkowicz, Leon T., 1896-

Born March 19, 1896, in Kishinev, Romania; died 1959 in Chicago, Illinois. Writer and newspaper man. Shortly after his birth his family returned to Poland, where he completed his schooling through secondary school and became an apprentice tool maker in Krakow. He immigrated to the United States in 1913 and settled with his family in St. Adalbert's Parish, Chicago, IL. In 1917 he joined the United States Army and served one year in France with Company C, Infantry, 88th division. Upon his return to civilian life, Walkowicz took a job as a reporter with the Polish National Daily, founded by John F. Smulski; later he became the associate editor and staff photographer of Dziennik Zwiazkowy and a reporter for the Polish Union Daily. Walkowicz was one of the co-founders of the Alliance of Polish-American Veterans, which would merge with the Polish Legion of American Veterans-USA in 1931, and the founder and president of the Polish-American HIstorical Society in Chicago.