Canada recalls World War I hero (07/28/96)

Canada recalls World War I hero

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - Almost 79 years after he was awarded the British Commonwealth's most prestigious medal of bravery, the Victoria Cross (V.C.) at the age of 29, Filip Konowal was remembered by the Canadian government on July 15 as a hero.

Canada's minister of defense and veterans affairs, David Collenette, unveiled a trilingual plaque in honor of the only Ukrainian Canadian ever to receive the V.C. Inscribed in English, French and Ukrainian, it reads: "Filip Konowal, a Ukrainian Canadian who enlisted n the 77th Batallion, while serving as a corporal with the 47th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, fought with exceptional valor in August 1917 near Lens, France. For this His Majesty King George V personally conferred the Victoria Cross on him in London on 15 October 1917."

The plaque and the accompanying commemorative events were funded by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), in cooperation with the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Ottawa, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 260 (Konowal Branch) and the Governor General's Foot Guards.

Following the first world war, in which he served for almost four years, Mr. Konowal was a member of the Foot Guards and the plaque in his honor will remain at the Foot Guards' Cartier Square Drill Hall in Ottawa.

Similar plaques will be unveiled at on August 21 at Toronto's Royal Canadian Legion Konowal Branch, next spring in New Westminster, British Columbia, where Mr. Konowal joined the 47th batallion, and in his home town, Kudkiv, Ukraine.

A biographical booklet on Mr. Konowal written by the UCCLA's Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk and Ron Sorobey - an amateur historian from Ottawa who spent years researching the Ukrainian Canadian war hero's career - was also released on July 15.

"Here was a man who sacrificed everything for his king and his country," Dr. Luciuk said at the official dedication ceremony. "He is worthy of our respect and acknowledgement."

One of about 10,000 Ukrainian Canadians who served during World War I, Mr. Konowal's heroism occurred over two days in August 1917, during the battle for Hill 70.

He singlehandedly staved off a German attack, killing 16 soldiers, while armed with only a bayonet, rifle and a few grenades, and taking out three German gun positions.

"Filip Konowal was not a big man - standing about 5-foot-6 - but he had a big heart," said Mr. Collenette.

Nicholas Kulyk, treasurer of the Royal Canadian Legion's Konowal Branch, who knew Mr. Konowal, said the Ukrainian Canadian World War I hero "walked, talked and behaved like a soldier" throughout his life.

Still, Mr. Konowal was the exception to the rule, joining an elite of only 93 Canadians to ever receive the V.C. since it was created by Queen Victoria during the Crimean War in 1856.

In some circles, Mr. Konowal's heroism never dwindled. When George V's son, George VI, visited Canada in 1939, the king personally greeted Mr. Konowal during dedication ceremonies of the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

Eleven years later he participated in a march-past review at London's Hyde Park and attended a garden party hosted by George VI's daughter, Elizabeth II.

In 1953, Toronto's Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360 voted to make Mr. Konowal its patron.

Despite the recognition, however, Mr. Konowal's life beyond the V.C. victory was far from glamorous.

He lost his first wife, Anna, and a daughter, Maria, in Ukraine during Stalin's terror. (He re-married a French-Canadian widow, Juliette Leduc-Auger, who died in 1987.)

He also spent his post-military career working as a janitor on Parliament Hill. However, when former Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King spotted Mr. Konowal wearing his V.C., he invited him to work as his special custodian, where Mr. Konowal remained until his death in 1959 at the age of 72.

Mr. Konowal was buried in Ottawa's historic Notre Dame Cemetery, where a new, upright marker, donated by Veterans Affairs Canada, adorns his grave.

A crowd of about 100 braved driving rain earlier in the day on July 15 to attend an ecumenical prayer service at the site of Mr. Konowal's grave.

Veterans from both Toronto's Konowal and Montreal's Mazeppa branches of the Royal Canadian Legion solemnly placed wreaths at the foot of the simple headstone.

Among those in attendance was Mr. Kulyk, who served in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army between 1943 and 1950. Like Mr. Konowal, who sustained a near fatal gunshot to the head that left the right side of his mouth paralyzed, Mr. Kulyk carries painful reminders of his wartime service. Shrapnel tore into both of Mr. Kulyk's hands as well as his groin area, leaving him minus a finger and 80 percent disabled.

On July 15, the thrill of witnessing the national recognition of his old friend seemed to make Mr. Kulyk temporarily forget the pain of his war wounds.

"I am so proud that this man, Filip Konowal, will not be forgotten. He deserves to be remembered by all Canadians."

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