A local World War II veteran Robert Kolodzik humbly recounts his tour of duty as a young man who quit school to protect our freedom. With hard work and a can-do attitude, Kolodzik earned him the honor of serving in the 82nd and the 101st Airborne divisions completing over thirty-two successful jumps. We have Mr. Kolodzik’s complete Texarkana Arkansas VFW 4562 Veteran Spotlight to follow.
Texarkana Arkansas VFW Post 4562 Veteran Spotlight
Our second veteran’s spotlight was a race to secure a special story before the ravages of time and health made memories disappear permanently. During his service, Robert Kolodzik earned assignments with both the 82nd and the 101st Airborne divisions, and if you have ever met him, you realize just how justifiably proud he is of his time with these units.
Mr. Kolodzik’s story starts out like so many others of his generation…he quit school at 17 to join the military. After basic training, he stumbled into becoming the company commander’s driver. Because he had driven trucks for his dad, he became the easy choice to drive the jeep for the CO. It was during this assignment that he was also able to obtain his jump wings. After dozens of successful jumps, Mr. Kolodzik had worked his way up to leading a squad, he was the person in charge of making sure his plane full of paratroopers made it to the ground safely and on target.
Many heroes often minimize the role their actions play in a given situation. During our conversation, Mr. Kolodzik casually mentioned a training exercise at Ft. Bliss, the largest parachute drop since World War II. Tragically, during the exercise, the wind became erratic and led to the deaths of five service members with over one hundred injured. During the drop, Mr. Kolodzik could see the problem that the wind was causing with the parachutes, and at the last second directed each of the troops under his command to change the landing location to avoid colliding with the trees. Because of this last second change, none of the men under his command were injured.
During his time as a paratrooper, Mr. Kolodzik went on to compete thirty-two successful jumps before breaking his leg in a military vehicle accident. The story of the accident is worthy of publication itself…but that will have to wait for another day. Thank you Robert Kolodzik for your service to our GREAT country!!!
