Joseph Kuznicki

Joseph Kuznicki of East Rutherford, entered eternal life on March 31st, 2021, he was 92. Joseph was born in Lomzy, Poland on January 1st, 1929 to Stanislaw and Chelena (Kowalewska) Kuznicki. After fleeing Poland from the German and Russian occupations, he finally was able to make his way to the United States. In 1952 he joined the United States Army to serve in Korea, until 1954. He then married his beloved wife Maria (Olechowska); and they have been married for over 68 years. Joseph is survived by his beloved wife Maria, his devoted sons Stanley and his wife Wendy Kuznicki, Edward Kuznicki and his partner Edwin Monsanto. He is survived by his cherished grandchildren Robert Kuznicki, Matthew Kuznicki, Kyle Kuznicki and Kayla Kuznicki, his dear brothers and sisters in law; Edward and his wife Zofia Bogdan, Stanley and his wife Margaret Olechowski, Joseph and his wife Stacey Olechowski and John Olechowski. He is also survived by his nieces and nephews Margaret Bogdan, Joseph Bogdan, Walter and his wife Paulina Chesaniuk, Phillip Chesaniuk, Helen Stone, Dorothy Olechowski, Tracey Olechowski, Robert Olechowski, Stacey Olechowski and Andrew Olechowski. He was predeceased by his siblings, Kazimirz Kuznicki, Ludwig Kuznicki, Witold Kuznicki, Roman Kuznicki and Zofia Kuznicki. Visiting 5-8 pm, Tuesday, April 6th, Warner-Wozniak Funeral Service, 80 Midland Avenue, Wallington, NJ. A funeral Mass will be celebrated 10 am, Wednesday, April 7th, at The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, 127 Paterson Avenue, Wallington, NJ. Joseph will be laid to rest at St. Michael’s Cemetery, 120 Saddle River Road, South Hackensack. www.WarnerAndWozniak.com

The following has been taken from the memories of Edward Monsanto.
My partner Eddie’s dad passed away yesterday at 5:45pm at the ICU of Hackensack University Medical Center. He was 92 years old. He suffered a massive heart attack on Saturday March 20 and remained in critical condition ever since. He was a Korean War veteran and is survived by his wife Maria, and by his two sons Edward and Stanley.
Joseph S. Kuznicki lived a remarkable life and, if I may, I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to share the bit of it I know with you. If I had to pick one single word to define him it would be ‘Survivor’. Here is why...
During World War II thousands of Poles were sent to Siberia after the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. The eight members of Joseph’s family were part of those. They were all taken captive from Zawady, Poland to a Siberian Gulag by the Russian army. For those who don’t know, the Siberian Gulag was a system of forced labor camps established during Joseph Stalin's long reign as dictator of the Soviet Union. The conditions at the Gulag were brutal: Prisoners were required to work up to 14 hours a day in extreme cold weather. Many died of starvation, disease or exhaustion, others simply executed. This is how Joseph’s dad and brother died not far from each other’s camp. Joseph was then only a ten year old boy alone and at the mercy of the Russian army. I will leave it to you to figure out the implications of that.
Luckily, a year later, at 12am February 10, 1940, as he vividly recalls, Stalin signed a British treaty to release Polish as refugees from the Gulags. And this was how little boy Joseph managed to escape the Siberian Gulag system with the Anders' Army and other civilian groups that would take him and his now separated relatives on a twelve-year journey around the world, destination unknown. He spent two months on a train to nowhere with hundreds dying every day for lack of food and medical supplies. It would be six months Kyrgyzstan, then six months in Uzbekistan, then venture through the Caspian Sea, then one year in Tehran, Iran.
Refugees would jump off the train at every town they stopped along the way to steal food from locals to stay alive. In Tehran, they were given the choice of settling a refugee camp in either West Africa or Mexico.
Joseph’s group signed to Mexico and from there it was six months in Karachi, Pakistan, then six months in Mumbai, India, then three weeks on a boat to Melbourne, Australia, then New Zealand, then Bora Bora, French Polynesia, that was headed toward the US West Coast. After three months docked in San Francisco, they hopped on a train to the refugee camp in Santa Rosa, Mexico where they finally settled for three years. He recounts it was in Mexico where he was finally happy for the first time in a long time. But once the camp was closed, his group headed to the US border. Oddly enough, Joseph recalls the 1952 US economy being so bad, and his life so hopeless, that its was here in the United States of all places where he first started considering hanging himself.
He joined the US Army to fight the Korean War, which was later known as 'The Forgotten War' as it remained relatively overshadowed by the more vocal narratives of World War II’s ‘greatest generation’ and the Vietnam both, war and aftermath. In it, Joseph survived an airstrike that killed his entire platoon with all his best friends in it. The war ended on July 27, 1953, but he remained active till August 20, 1954 when he got honorably discharged. He then went on to marry Eddie’s mom and stayed by her side for his last 68 years of life.
Joseph loved tools and doing and fixing things with them or with his own hands. That was his favorite pass time. He kept his large tool-shed in the backyard always perfectly organized. He genuinely enjoyed being helpful to others and relished producing just the right tool at any moment's notice. A good bowl of ice cream or a bag of pork rinds would easily make his day. After all he had experienced, he had grown cynical of humanity and I think he used his dried sense of humor to cope with that, something I can relate with. Oddly enough though, he also loved singing old songs from Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete and Javier Solis he had learned in Mexico, where he learned Spanish. He also spoke Russian, Polish and English.
It was a privilege listening to all his first-person accounts on world events most people only read in books. You already are missed Joe. I hope you get an unlimited supply of ice cream wherever you are. R.I.P.