Hollywood’s Failure to Immortalize Franciszek Gabryszewski

by Norman Berdichevsky (November 2014)

Franciszek Gabryszewski in flight suit

We need American heroes today more than ever, yet the lack of any single name in Korea, Viet-Nam or Iraq to match those of Sergeant Alfred York and Audie Murphy is a telling indication of how those conflicts did not generate the need for the hero worship of the two world wars and portends the disinterest of the public on glorifying American combat heroism. Two classic American heroic films are “Sergeant York” and “To Hell and Back.”

The film Sergeant York (MGM) released in 1941 culturally and psychologically prepared the American public for the ominous struggle ahead by reminding them that this nation had produced incredible acts of valor and heroism by simple American citizens inflamed with the belief in just war and American patriotism. Its star, Gary Cooper (whom the real Alvin York of Tennessee insisted was the only actor capable of playing him on the screen) went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal. The film also won awards for Best Film Editing and was nominated in nine other categories, including Best Picture, Director (Howard Hawks), Supporting Actor (Walter Brennan), and Supporting Actress (Margaret Wycherly). The American Film Institute ranked the film 57th in its 100 most inspirational American movies. It also rated Alvin York 35th in its list of the top 50 heroes in American cinema.

Audie, like Alvin, was good looking but very short and with a baby face that would have excluded him from playing any role as a heroic soldier had his story not been the dramatic truth. Audie was rejected by the Marines, the Navy, and the Army paratroopers due to his small size and youthful appearance, eventually winning acceptance only in the Army as an ordinary infantryman. His looks made him the butt of sarcastic remarks by fellow soldiers in the Third Infantry Division in North Africa. Again, this scenario is the incredible background to Audie’s achievements that would make him the most decorated American soldier in history. Truth is stranger than fiction and Hollywood had to play catch-up ball but the public, knowing the truth flocked to see a real life hero and not a professional well groomed actor.

During his many battles in Africa, Sicily, Italy and France, culminating in a feat that earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor, Audie consistently showed incredible determination, innovation and daring by his actions. As German troops closed in on him in an isolated position behind an abandoned M4 Sherman tank, he single-handedly turned back the German attack, thereby saving his company.

Gabbi racked up 28 definite kills against German pilots in aerial combat and became one of only seven U.S. combat pilots to become an ace (officially recognized after five victories in aerial combat) in two wars. Gabreski went on to command two fighter squadrons and had six command tours at group or wing level, including one in Korea.

His father, Stanley Gabryszewski emigrated from Poland to Oil City, Pennsylvania in the early 1900s and owned and operated a market which employed all his children. The parents stinted and saved to enable Gabbi to enter Notre Dame in 1938, but, he initially did quite poorly and was in danger of flunking out. During his second year at Notre Dame he buckled down to prepare for Army Air Corps recruiters who visited the campus and presented him with a career opportunity that appealed to his patriotic instincts.

His initial performance here too was poor – he was a mediocre trainee, and was forced to pass a “do or die” elimination flight in order to continue training. The German invasion of Poland added a new motivation that ignited his determination to succeed – like millions of other Polish-Americans, they had a double score to settle with the Axis. Here too – we have all the drama of a Hollywood fictional scenario except it was the truth.

Had his career ended here, there would have been ample material to make a dramatic war film honoring him, but once again, no Hollywood script writer could have dreamed up the sequel to his combat accomplishments.

On July 20, 1944, Gabreski reached the 300-hour combat time limit for Eighth Air Force fighter pilots and was about to leave the European combat theater to return home to a hero’s welcome and reassignment. He had already advised his sweetheart Kay Cochran to proceed with wedding plans. His home town of Oil City, had raised $2,000 for a wedding present in anticipation of his return.

But wait! – as the tv commercials proclaim. …”There’s more!” The Air-force sent him to Columbia University after the war to complete his degree and study Russian. He earned a B.A. in Political Science and returned to service becoming commander of his former unit – The 56th Fighter group now flying jet F-80 Shooting stars. The Korean war saw Gabreski return to combat and on July 8, 1951, flying his fifth mission in an F-86, he shot down a MiG 15, followed by MiG kills on September 2 and October 2. He ended up with six credited kills of North Korean jet MIGS which made him an ace for the second time.

Were Sergeant York and Audie Murphy – simply in the right time and the right place because the wars they fought in were universally supported by American public opinion whereas the subsequent conflicts in Korea, Viet-Nam and Iraq were much less popular? Of course these conflicts too had their heroes but no one name captured the personification of heroism and bravery. Did Gabbi Gabreski miss out on cinematic immortality because “diversity” was not valued on the screen. He didn’t meet the image then prevailing, that “all-American” stardom included a strong element of being identified as a recognizable part of the WASP majority or was America simply war weary by 1945 and that one war hero per war was adequate for the public?

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Norman Berdichevsky is the author of The Left is Seldom Right and Modern Hebrew: The Past and Future of a Revitalized Language.

 

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