Pułkownik doktor Jerzy Pertkiewicz ps. „Drzazga” (1920–2018) – żołnierz ZWZ-AK ziemi tarnowskiej .......... 149

COLONEL JERZY PERTKIEWICZ, PHD, PSEUD. “DRZAZGA” (1920–2018) – ZWZ-AK SOLDIER OF THE TARNÓW REGION

Jerzy Kazimierz Pertkiewicz was born on 25 February 1920 in Czortków and was a doctor of pharmacy. During the Second World War, displaced from Kalisz, he found himself with his family in Tarnów, where on 12 February 1940 he joined the local cell of the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ) and adopted the pseudonym “Drzazga”. He was an active soldier of the September Campaign and the Home Army. After the beginning of the Operation Tempest, he was assigned to the 16th IR of the Home Army, where he was commander of the platoon of the 3rd “Regina” Rifle Company in the “Barbara” battalion. In the summer and autumn of 1944, he took part in partisan operations as part of the Operation Tempest, and in later smaller-scale operations under the code name “Rain”. In the Tarnów district, he fought in many localities in southern Poland. He escaped death many times. After the war, he was actively involved in cultivating the memory of ZWZ-AK soldiers, as well as in scouting. He was repeatedly decorated for his wartime merits in Poland and Europe. In 2005, he was promoted to the rank of major, in 2008 to lieutenant colonel, and in 2011 to retired colonel in the Polish Army. On 16 September 2010, he was awarded the Offi cer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his outstanding contribution to the independence of the Republic of Poland. He was an extremely modest, cultured, wise and righteous man. A believer and practising Catholic. In retirement, he was passionate about spreading the memory of the ZWZ-AK among schoolchildren, almost to the end of his life. He passed away in Tarnów on 30 June 2018. He survived in good health for 98 years.