Antoni Rogozinski was born 15 April 1912 in Poland, where he resided until he joined the Polish Army in 1939. His unit was pushed into Rumania by the Nazi invasion, and subsequently the fragmented forces retreated through Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Italy prior to obtaining passports to France. In France they rejoined Polish forces and were sent to England and Scotland for further training. In Scotland Rogozinski attended English language and teaching classes at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, (1941) and Cambridge University. After completion of his training, Rogozinski participated in combat in France, Belgium, Holland, and Bermany. He rose from the rank of lieutenant in the Polish Army to captain with the Polish first armored division under General Dwight Eisenhower.
Following the war Rogozinski settled in England, where he taught English to similarly stranded former soldiers, and managed a small chemical plant in London. In 1948, Colonel M. Emil Pankiewicz had left Europe for Milwaukee, under the auspices of the World Federation of Polish Combatants Association, to prepare for the arrival of displaced persons and former soldiers in the United States. Three years later Rogozinski also came to Milwaukee and joined with Pankiewicz in forming English language classes for the newly arrived refugees. Together they also began a Polish Combatants radio hour, offered other classes, and with four other men organized the first Polish combatants association in the United States - the Association of Veterans of the Second World War in the Polish Armed Forces, Inc., or Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantow (SPK). Rogozinski was twice honored by the Polish Government in Exile in London for his services to Poland and to Polish refugees. In 1971 he was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit for his efforts to resettle and retrain immigrants to the U.S., and in 1980 he received the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Polish civilian equivalent of the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor.
In private life Rogozinski and his wife, Bianca both worked for Patrick Cudahy, Inc. Rogozinski retired from the firm in 1977 after twenty-six years of service.
