POLISH EX-SERVICEMEN'S ASSOCIATION
SUB-BRANCH No.1 SYDNEY AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED
Sub-branch of the Polish Ex-Servicemen's Association in Australia Inc.
Stanislaw Zak
PRESIDENT
Born in 1966 in Poland. Married and father of two children.
Completed technical secondary education. Living in Australia since 1991.
Owner of a small business for the past 25 years.
Descendant of World War II soldiers. Both grandfathers participated in the defensive war of 1939. His paternal grandfather, a soldier of the Home Army (AK), was murdered in the German concentration camp at Auschwitz. He is also the grandnephew of a 1944 Warsaw Uprising insurgent who was shot by a German occupier.
Member of the Polish Ex-servicemen’s Association since 2013 and President of the Association since 2017.
Lech Gade
I VICE-PRESIDENT
Lieutenant Lech 'Leszek' Gade was born in 1930 in Warsaw. His mother was killed during the German bombing of Warsaw in 1939, and his father was murdered in a German concentration camp in 1945.
A scout and soldier of the Home Army. He took part in the Warsaw Uprising as a messenger in Colonel Monter’s staff. After the fall of the Uprising, he became a prisoner of war in Stalag XI B. After the war ended, he joined the Polish Armed Forces in the West. Fearing repressions from the communist regime, he emigrated to Australia, where he served as a commando in the Commando Regiment.
A distinguished leader of the Polish diaspora and a long-time volunteer at the Polish Army Museum in Sydney. Husband, father, and proud grandfather.
At the age of 94, he traveled to Poland for the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. Member of the SPK since 1948. In 2023, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by President Andrzej Duda. He has also been decorated with, among others, the Home Army Cross, the Army Medal, the Pro Patria Medal, and the Australian Defence Medal.
Dr. Ryszard Adams-Dzierzba
II VICE-PRESIDENT
Migrated to Australia in 1980. Family GP in Ashfield since 1986.
Member of Ex-servicemen's Association in Sydney since 1998. Committed family man, a husband, father and " infected with patriotism " person.
A son of a mariner defending Hel Peninsula during German invasion of Poland
in September 1939. Proud to be of Polish Heritage, honoured to be associated with Veterans and migrants post WWII.
Influencing children to be young professional Australians and to be aware of their Central European roots.
Nicholas Machinko
SECRETARY
Standard-bearer.
Born in 1983 in Australia, into a Polish patriotic family. Already at the age of 14, he helped run the Polish Army Museum in Sydney, where he befriended Warsaw Uprising veteran Lech Gade.
A descendant of a January Uprising insurgent and great-grandson of a Piłsudski legionnaire awarded the Medal of Independence. His great-granduncle, also a legionnaire, was awarded the Cross of Independence, and his son, a Home Army soldier, fought against the communist regime.
A passionate military history enthusiast and collector of memorabilia related to the Polish Army and the legions. Member of the SPK since 2018.
Dr. Andrzej Szudziński
TREASURER
Lieut. Colonel, MBBS(Syd), PhD, Andrzej Szudzinski born in 1946 in Lodz, Poland. Graduate of Military Medical Academy in Lodz, Poland
1969. PhD title in 1982 in Military Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. Assistant Professor of the Department Dermatology in 1985 in the Postgraduate Centre of the Military Medical Academy in Warsaw.
Living in Australia since 1987. Graduate of the Sydney University Medical Faculty 1993. Founder and Head Surgeon of the Cosmetic Medical Centre
in Sydney. Fellow Australian College of Cosmetic Surgery, Member
of American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, Member of European Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. Emeritus Cosmetic Surgeon since 2021.
A son of a solder defending Warsaw in 1920 during soviet invasion of Poland and Home Army solder during German invasion of Poland during World War II. Both parents-in-law fought in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
Member of the Polish Ex-servicemen's Association since 2015.
