be representatives of various Polish-American societies and veterans groups. I felt
that Clarence Paderewski, the next of kin, should be offered a major role.
Derwinski thought he should be in the background.
Because Derwinski was in charge and since he excluded me from most of the
planning, the ceremony was conducted according to his wishes. Held in the
Arlington Chapel on June 27, 1992, the ceremony, although small, was a dignified
affair at which Vice President Quayle spoke.
After the ceremony, the body was transported on a horse-drawn caisson to the
main gate of the cemetery. Several thousand soldiers, airmen, and sailors lined the
route. We flew to Shannon, Ireland, on Sunday, June 28th spent the night there,
and flew to Warsaw the next morning. We arrived at 10 A.M. June 29, 1992, the
51st anniversary of Paderewski's death. An official delegation of the Polish
government met us and together we followed the casket in a motorcade to the
Warsaw Castle, where the body lay in state for two days. Following that it was
then taken to Poznan for two days and then returned to Warsaw.
On Sunday, July 5th, President Bush stopped off in Warsaw for a three-hour visit.
He and Lech Walesa attended a high mass at noon at the Warsaw Cathedral, after
which the body was put into a side altar until the crypt in the cathedral would be
completed.
For a week after our arrival with the remains, there were a number of ceremonies
in Warsaw and other cities honoring Paderewski. The gala concert, however, was
to me a great disappointment. The music chosen for the ceremony was not by
Paderewski, but the Requiem Mass by Bach.
The official U. S. party was given a number of briefings by various Polish
officials. At one of these briefings, Professor Edward Rozek, of the University of
Colorado in Boulder, spoke out in criticism of Walesa's choice for prime minister,
Waldermar Pawlak. Rozek said that the leader of the Peasant Party was a
dedicated communist and, being in his early forties, inexperienced. Asked by Lech
Walesa's representative who he would pick, Rozek said that Poland should emulate
Great Britain and choose a woman. Pressed as to who that should be, he said,
"Hanna Suchocka. Rozek's bold and outspoken criticisms made a number of the
official party nervous. I was greatly surprised when watching CNN several days
later in my Warsaw hotel that Walesa had named Hanna Suchocka to be the new
prime minister. Whether this was pure coincidence or because Rozek knew
something we didn't, I have never been able to determine. When I asked him
about it later, he simply smiled.
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