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GALLAGHER: Polish Army veteran gets U.S. military sendoff 11 years after his death

Sioux City Journal - 7/30/2017

DOON, Iowa | The color guard representing American Legion Post No. 476 led 104 floats celebrating Doon's 125th anniversary bash on Saturday morning. Important work, leading a parade.

Members of the group performed another meaningful task, quietly, one hour prior to the parade.

Eight members of Post No. 476 gathered with 20-some members of the Surma family at Hillside Cemetery southwest of Doon at 10 a.m. Commander Marvin Post apologized at the start of a brief ceremony, saying this action was long overdue.

The uniformed contingent assembled to perform military rites at the grave site of Stan "Sas" Surma, a member of the Polish Army during World War II. Surma, who came to Doon after the war's conclusion, built a business, raised a family, and served for years in Post No. 476, a key organization in this Lyon County town.

However, when Surma died 11 years ago, he didn't receive military rites at his burial because of a split in the local legion, primarily because he wasn't a U.S. military veteran.

"Somewhere along the line this (military rite) for him was eliminated," Post said. "We thought this was something we could do this weekend for his family."

All six children of "Sas" and Grace Surma were present for the ceremony, one that included the folding and presentation of a flag, a gun salute and playing of taps. Post presented the flag to son Carl Surma, of Doon, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army.

Post thanked Carl Surma for the service his father gave to the U.S., and the Allied Forces in defeating Germany in World War II.

"Marv came to me a while back while I was mowing my yard," Carl Surma said. "Marv said this had been bothering him, the fact my dad never got military rites."

Stan "Sas" Surma was born in 1927 at Pietrycze, Poland, making him a 12-year-old when Germany overran his homeland and started World War II. A couple of years later, "Sas" boarded a vehicle in Poland, thinking it would take him to a site where members of a resistance movement were gathering. Instead, he was fooled and was shipped off to a work camp, separated from his family.

He would serve time in the labor camp, raising crops to feed members of the Germany military.

Allied bombers later helped liberate the camp and "Sas" joined the Polish Army toward the end of the war. His children said he guarded the motor pool during the Nuremberg Trials at Nuremberg, Germany. He also helped clean a concentration camp following the war.

"Sas," who was Catholic, appealed to Catholic Relief Services three years after the war ended. His application was approved and he boarded a ship named "Hope," which was bound for the U.S. He landed at Boston, Massachusetts, with $2 in his pockets. His first U.S. purchase consisted of ice cream and a Coca-Cola. "Sas," who was 21 at the time, spoke no English.

"Dad wanted to go where there was open land and plenty of food," said daughter Penny Toay, of Waverly, Iowa.

"Sas" was placed in the care of C.M. and Marie Kopp, of Doon, a couple that expressed a willingness to sponsor an immigrant. The Kopps were aided in the effort by Steve Ratus, a World War II veteran from Doon. Ratus is buried next to "Sas" and Grace Surma, in the shadow of a giant evergreen on the northern edge of Hillside Cemetery, mere steps from rows of corn that help feed a nation today.

On Labor Day in 1948, "Sas" arrived in Doon, where he'd remain for good.

"The town sponsored a bank loan to get him started in the shoe business," said daughter Amy Surma, of Creston, Iowa. "He had watched a shoemaker in Poland and knew something about that business."

"Stan the Shoe Man," which is engraved on his headstone, operated his business until his retirement in 2003. Along the way, he pitched in with American Legion Post No. 476, served on the Doon City Council and Doon Board of Education, and assisted with the U.S. Air Force Air Defense Team-Ground Observer Corps.

"Sas" was 79 when he died on Oct. 28, 2006. He was buried here on Nov. 1, 2006.

His military rites, though 11 years late, were appreciated by his children and grandchildren, many of whom dabbed tears as Post presented the U.S. flag to son Carl.

As a nation, we should be grateful. Stan "Sas" Surma played a role in working for us while saving the free world. He then went on make an impact on his new country, and a new hometown, a place that wrapped its arms around this war survivor.

"Dad came from Poland when Hitler came to power," Carl Surma said. "Dad knew what freedom -- the freedom many of us take for granted -- is all about."