News-Info-Alerts

Re: Sergeant-at-Arms Ex-POW Passes

Date: March 16, 2004

"Former House sergeant-at-arms dies

Staff Report

Edward P. Dombrowski, a former longtime sergeant-at-arms and doorman of the Alabama House of Representatives, died Wednesday at his home in Jemison, Ala., after a lengthy illness. He was 88.

Dombrowski, a native of New Jersey, grew up in Erie, Pa. He served in the U.S. Air Force and retired as a colonel.

During World War II, he was shot down, captured and held as a prisoner of war for a few days before managing to escape. He walked 57 days before finding Allied troops in Italy.

Meanwhile, the military had declared him dead. When he arrived home in Erie, he found that his family and friends were at a memorial service being held in his honor.

Dombrowski received many awards and medals during his 30-year Air Force career, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, which had been awarded posthumously for bravery when the military thought he had been killed, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He specialized in foreign languages, including Russian and Polish, and taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

He retired from active duty while stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. He remained in the Montgomery area, where he managed a shopping center and served as a senior officer in the Alabama National Guard, before going to work for the Alabama House as its sergeant-at-arms in the early 1980s. He retired from the House 11 years ago.

Survivors include his wife, Annie Bernice Dombrowski of Jemison; one son, Edward Peter Dombrowski Jr. of San Antonio; one daughter, Gina Dombrowski of Austin, Texas; two stepsons, Gerald Williams of Jemison and Michael Lynn Williams of Meridian, Miss.; nine grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.

The service will be 10 a.m. today at Martin Funeral Home in Clanton, Ala. Burial will be in Liberty Hill Baptist Cemetery in Clanton.

©2004 al.com"