Jacob carried an axe as he and his friend walked toward a forest in Nazi-occupied Poland. The task ahead was gruesome, but with courage and determination, they soldiered onward.
When they were deep in the woods, Jacob raised the axe high with the blunt end aimed toward his friend's leg just above the ankle. Slamming it down hard, he broke his friend's leg. Then, the friend reciprocated. Despite intense pain, both men had to feel gratified because with broken legs, neither could be forced to march in Hitler's army. The friend's name has been lost in the crevices of time, but the memory of his bravery remains.
During the same reign of terror in Poland, Rudolf, Jacob's brother, spent seven months inside a small chapel. During the day, he hid under an altar. When the church was closed at night, he was free to walk about inside. His mother went to the church daily to pray. Wearing a cape under which she hid food, she fed her son. He survived.
A kind farm woman in Poland fed anyone who came by and asked for food. One day, several men approached. She asked if they wanted food. They did, and she fed them. Dressed in civilian clothes, they were members of the Gestapo. After eating, they forced her to go outside and dig her own grave. Then, they shot her.
A man named Joseph had a family in Poland, and they were hungry. He went into the woods carrying his gun and shot a deer. He wrapped the deer around the back of his neck, holding its feet in front. When he came out of the woods, members of the Gestapo captured him and forced him to walk around a church. He was forced to walk until he fell over. Later, he died on the ground where he had fallen. The populace was not allowed to own guns, so Joseph's gun was illegal.
Agnes Kukuchka Smith told me the preceding stories on a bright November morning in 2012, years after World War II had ended.
Jacob and Rudolf were Agnes' maternal uncles. The kind farm woman was Agnes' distant cousin. Joseph was Jacob and Rudolf's brother-in-law. After the war, Jacob became an artist and a famous sculptor. Agnes' parents were born in Poland. Her father came to the United States in 1912 and her mother in 1914.
The heartrending stories her mother told her live on in the back room of Agnes' memories. In time, though, Agnes would become a small contributor to the victory over the enemy that brought such incredible suffering and death to her relatives, as well as to countless other innocent human beings.
As I sat in the Nitro living room of Doutain and Agnes Smith, Agnes also shared with me stories of her life as a Rosie the Riveter.
She said, "We were conscious of the importance of our work." She and others in the factory were aware the piston rings they manufactured would be used on engines of U.S. planes. Following is an excerpt of a letter the workers received:
"Please listen to me, men and women of American Hammered; a soldier who worked with you and still am - only in a different division, the Division of the U.S. Army Air Force.