Stanley Scislowski

Author/ World War II Veteran.

Stanley Scislowski is the published author of a number of books, most notably “Not All of Us Were Brave,” about his experiences overseas in World War II.  His latest book attracted the attention of a film company which was producing a documentary for the History Channel entitled “For King and Country”. Mr. Scislowski  was invited to Italy with the filmmakers, and was featured prominently in Episodes 3 and 4 which dealt with the Canadians in Italy.

Scislowski was born in Windsor, Ontario on Sept.14, 1923, one of seven children of Polish-Ukrainian immigrants. The family lived on Parent Ave. and hardship struck early as Stanley lost his father at the age of eight. He became an avid reader and one of the greatest pleasures of his youth was walking to the Carnegie Library as often as he could.  Growing up, Stanley also developed a strong interest in chemistry and was dubbed “the Mad Scientist of Parent Avenue” for his ability to create various concoctions. Both his love of reading and of chemistry would strongly influence his future life. Scislowski was drafted into the Canadian Army in the latter part of 1942 at age 19 and by May of 1943 was in England awaiting deployment. He spent his war years as an infantry private, serving in the Perth regiment, in Italy, taking part in battles in Cassino, the Liri Valley, the Lamone River and the Gothic Line. An injury ended his fighting and he was evacuated back to England after spending time in hospital in Italy. Returning home from the war, after a brief stint working at Chrysler, he began a business with his brothers, Industrial Platers, which became a successful electro-plating company until it was sold in the early eighties. He married Joyce Barnes in 1950 with whom he raised six children.

But Scislowski came home from the war with stories to tell. Beginning with a typewriter on his dining room table, he would draft tales of his war years and bring copies of these stories to the regimental reunions he attended each year in Stratford. He also began a series of pilgrimages back to Italy to revisit the scenes of battles and other events. These journeys were documented by Stanley and he ended up self-publishing these chronicles.   His writings caught the eye of historian and writer Gavin Watt who urged Stanley to compile them into a book. His writing was not limited to his wartime experiences. As the chemist for his company, he was active in the American Electro-Plating Society and wrote many technical articles for several magazines. Stanley also served as the editor of the newsletter for his Royal Canadian Legion branch for over 40 years. He spent his last years giving talks at local schools for Remembrance Day and attending as many military functions as he could. He led an active, vibrant life up to the day of his death, March 23, 2014 at the age of 90.

Sources:

Dundurn Books, “Not all of us were brave.”
Canadian Encyclopedia. Veteran Stories: Army: Stan Scislowski
Christie, Norm.  TVO. “For king and country.” 2016.

By Scislowski, Stanley:

A pilgrimage to European battlefields.  1979.
Return to Italy, 1975. 1976.
Italy – the third time around. 1981.
The best of metro: 25th Anniversary, Branch 594, 1986.  1986
Not all of us were brave. 1991.
The mad chemist. Stan’s world.  n.d.