Page 1 - Nellis AFB Bullseye 9-25-15

Vol. 65 No. 38
September 25, 2015

Gone but not forgotten:

Nellis honors POWs, those MIA

By Airman 1st Class Mikaley Kline

99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Siuta B. Ika
— The year is 1944 and George Kielak
fights in the Polish army during the Willette Gerald, deputy director of the Nevada Department of Veterans Services, presents a proclamation from Nevada
Warsaw Uprising. For 63 days he and his Governor Brian Sandoval to Brig. Gen. Christopher Short, 57th Wing commander, during the Prisoners of War/Missing in Action
comrades fight to liberate World War II Recognition Ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Sept. 18. Short also spoke at the event and thanked those who came out
Warsaw, Poland, from Nazi Germany to honor the commitment and sacrifices made by the nation’s prisoners of war and those missing in action.
occupation.
white POW/MIA banner during a recog- the nation’s prisoners of war and those Short. “The words ‘You Are Not Forgot-
“In the Polish army I carried ammuni- nition ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base, missing in action. ten’ woven into the fabric of the POW/
tion and messages to our brigades,” said Nevada, Sept. 18 MIA flag are deliberate; they define our
Kielak. “I also caught a German prisoner “The POW/MIA flag serves as the nation’s resolve in bringing Americans
of war myself.” Brig. Gen. Christopher Short, 57th symbol of our nation’s commitment to home.”
Wing commander, spoke at the event and honor and to keep faith with past, cur-
Kielak was standing at a barricade in thanked those who came out to honor rent and future American prisoners of _______ See POW/MIA, on page 3
front of a church when he saw a German the commitment and sacrifices made by war and those missing in action,” said
soldier in front of him. They both quickly
hid behind a pillar in the church.

“He threw a grenade at me which
didn’t explode. It fell about a meter away
from me,” said Kielak. “I wondered when
it would explode, how much noise it
would make, and how much shrapnel it
would produce. Luckily for me it didn’t
explode.

“I had a pistol that didn’t work and we
didn’t have much ammunition,” recalled
Kielak. “I drew my pistol anyway because
he didn’t know it didn’t work. I came out
from behind the church column and told
him to put his hands up. He was shaking
like gelatin and hollering ‘don’t shoot,
don’t shoot’. He was more scared of me
than I was of him.”

Despite Kielak’s efforts, his unit sur-
rendered to the Nazis due to a shortage
of supplies and ammunition. Kielak was
held as a prisoner of war in Germany
from Oct. 2, 1944, to April 17, 1945. He
was 15 years old.

Stories like Kielak’s are what united
former POWs under the stark black and

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