Leon Tadeusz Zietara was born January 25, 1917 at Medrzechow in the Dabrowa Tarnowska district of Poland. His father was a member of the Austrian police. Leon Zietara graduated from the Kazimerz Brodzinski Gymnasium in Tarnow in 1937, and was attending the Szkola Podchorazych Piechoty at Ostrow-Komorow near Ostroleka when World War II broke out. During the war Zietara played an active role in the underground army (Armia Krajowa) in Tarnow, using the pseudonym Lukasz. Following the war Zietara left Poland, residing first in Italy, then after 1945 in Great Britain, where he studied forestry and woodwork at an officer refugee camp in Scotland. In 1948 Zietara departed for the United States and settled in Milwaukee, where three years later he married Irene Wolosiewicz (1931-). Zietara received on-the-job training in cabinetry at Allen-Bradley in Milwaukee, where he worked as a cabinet maker. Zietara has also been an active member of the Polish Army Veterans' Association of America (Stowarzyszenie Weteranow Armii Polskiej w Ameryce), Post 94.
Leon Zietara was intended to be baptized Tadeusz Leon, but was mistakenly named Leon Tadeusz; relatives and Polish friends refer to him as Tadeusz, or its diminutives, Tadzio, Tadziu. Since entering the army, Zietara used Leon as his first name.
