By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

CUMBERLAND — It’s nothing fancy or elaborate. For one summer day in August, a group of guys in their 80s get together in Edward J. Nawrocki’s backyard on Mt. Pleasant View Avenue to drink a few beers, enjoy some homemade clam chowder and share their memories of a war they fought more than 60 years ago.

Nawrocki, who’s hosted the gathering since 2006, calls them his “backyard heroes” and it’s his simple way of paying tribute to local veterans who saw combat duty in World War II.
Nawrocki, 79, a Korean War veteran, cooks all the food and buys all the beer for the annual gathering, which brings together World War II veterans from throughout the Blackstone Valley and beyond.
Veterans like Stanley Cyganiewicz of Cumberland who took part in the liberation of the Machausen concentration camp in Austria and was awarded four Bronze Stars. Or Adolph Tomaszek of North Smithfield, a decorated Navy pilot whose stayed afloat in the Pacific for three hours after his ship, the Bismark Sea, was sunk by a kamikaze plane. Or Nicholas Kazan of Lincoln who unloaded his .50 caliber machine gun at Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941.
“They’re truly unsung heroes. You could write a book or make a movie about each one of these guys,” says Nawrocki, a retired Cumberland policeman who served 30 years on the force, including two years as chief of police.
One of those “backyard heroes” is Nawrocki’s older brother, Stanley, a radar operator on the U.S.S. Biloxi, which took part in 24 engagements before it was hit by a kamikaze on March 27, 1944. Stanley, who survived the attack, became an educator after the war and served as Cumberland’s assistant school superintendent for several years.
The idea for the annual summer get-together was something that took shape  gradually as Nawrocki began discovering three years ago just how many World War II veterans there were living in close proximity to one another  in area towns like Cumberland, Lincoln, North Smithfield and Woonsocket.
For instance, he learned that a neighbor up the hill, Eddie Swierk, was a Marine who was part of the invasions of East New Guinea and Okinawa and also with Gen. Douglas MacArthur when he landed in the Phillipines.
And when Nawrocki went to his weekly physical rehab sessions in Woonsocket, he met a couple of other guys who were in the war, including Walter Greenlund of Woonsocket, who was awarded the Purple Heart after he was wounded in a nightime Japanese banzai attack.
“At first I figured I’d just take a couple of these guys out for dinner, but I started finding more and more of these veterans and it just steamrolled,” says Nawrocki. “So, I decided why not get all these guys who didn’t know each other together in one place for a cookout.”
He managed to bring 13 of the veterans together for the first backyard gathering in 2006.
“I like to go out clamming, so every year I make clam chowder, clam cakes and stuffed quohogs for the guys,” he says. “I’ve got some friends and neighbors who help out and they make dynamites and things like that.”
“When you hear these guys tell their stories you can’t help but be amazed,” says Nawrocki, who has become a sort of historian of local World War II vets and their service. “These guys, most of whom were just kids at the time, went through some pretty harrowing and heroic stuff and yet they are so humble and low-key about it.”
Humble and heroic guys like Joseph D’Abrosca of Narraganset, a Marine who landed on Green Beach in the second wave attacking Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945, and Ernest Gagne of Wonsocket, a machine gunner who took part in the invasions of the Phillipines, Islands of Morotoi, New Guinea, Luzon, and the occupation of Japan.
Then there’s William Glatki of North Smithfield, a crew member on board the U.S.S. Wilkes Barre, which assisted the Aircraft Carrier Bunker Hill when it was hit by kamikaze planes; Robert Gorman of Cranston who fought in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1945; and Albert Laliberte of Cumberland, who, under enemy gunfire, supported combat troops by building bridges and keeping roads open for supply convoys.
Camille Pepin of Woonsocket, an Army scout, was wounded in the Hurtegen Forest by German artillery and awarded the Purple Heart. Charles Sciaraffa of Cumberland served in the Pacific on two ships, including the U.S.S. Wayne, which transported invading Marines and Army troops as well as supplies and ammunition in Guadalcanal, Guam, Saipan and Okinawa.
Michael Tynik of Cumberland served in Patton’s 87th Infantry Division and was shot in the leg by a German machine-gunner near the Rhine on Feb. 14, 1945, as his unit was leaving Bastogne.
“At a field hospital, a French doctor told him in French “don’t let them cut your leg off. You’re young and you will heal,” Nawrocki says. “Mike knew enough French to know what the doctor was saying so when the Army surgeons got to him, he threatened them with bodily harm if they tried to cut off his leg.”
Tynik was flown to Paris and later awarded the Purple Heart.
Another Purple Heart recipient is Raymond Noury of Woonsocket, a crew member onboard a B-24 Liberator Bomber flying out of Brendisi, Italy. On Dec. 19, 1943, his plane was heading to a bomb site in Austria when it was attacked by German anti-aircraft guns. Noury was hit in the chest and legs by shrapnel. His plane limped home safely and he recieved the Silver Star. Noury returned to action in February of 1944 and while on a bomb run over Regenburg, Germany, his plane was hit again by the Germans. Noury managed to put on his parachute just as the plane exploded and he was blown out of the aircraft.
“The altitude at the time of the explosion was 17,000 feet,” Nawrocki explained. “Ray didn’t remember much until about 5,000 feet when he realized he was falling fast and sideways. He went to pull his rip cord and when he looked up, he saw his parachute already open and torn to shreds. He grabbed the crucifix around his neck and closed his eyes.”
Noury landed in a heavy drift of snow on a hill, sliding hundreds of feet down its slope. Injured and cold, he lay in the snow for two days before being found by Czech civilians. He ended up in a POW camp, which was liberated on April 29, 1945.
“These guys, who have been through these incredible situations, are still around. They’re going fast, but they’re still around,” says Nawrocki, who served his country in the Korean War from 1948 to 1952 as a heavy equipment mechanic at a secret bomber base in Limestone, Maine.
At age 79, Nawrocki isn’t sure how many more years he will be able to honor his “backyard heroes” — or, quite frankly, how many of the area’s World War II veterans will be around to honor.
Of the 16 million World War II veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs says 1,100 die every day. Four of Nawrocki’s backyard heroes (not mentioned above) have died since the first gathering in 2006.
In early 2006, Nawrocki bought “Geronimo!” a book about American paratroopers in World War II. While flipping through the book one night, he came across a photograph of a paratrooper named Roland Rondeau who was from — of all places — Woonsocket.
“I found a Roland Rondeau in the telephone book and sure enough, he was living on Rathbun Street,” he says.
Rondeau attended the first “backyard heroes” gathering that year, but, sadly, died a short time after that.
“I’m getting up there in age and a lot of these guys are in their 80s,” Nawrocki says. “What I would like to see is someone like CVS, Bryant College and Johnson & Wales take over and put on some kind of annual recognition program for all World War II veterans in Rhode Island. CVS could help financially, Bryant College could host the event and Johnson & Wales could prepare the food. I think it would be a nice thing to do.”
Nawrocki says the members of the “Greatest Generation” he has come to know are true American heroes living quiet, unassuming lives throughout the Blackstone Valley.
“This generation is fading fast,” he says. “These guys went over there and paid their dues and they deserve our thanks. We need to thank them now before it’s too late.”