By Alberto Suris
The ceremony honoring veterans this year was held on Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at the Senior Center in Lawrence, with the attendance of Mayor Daniel Rivera, who presented a plaque to the guest of honor, CPL Edmond Lozowski.
CPL Lozowski was born in Lowell, MA on November 22, 1932 and has lived in Lawrence for the past 67 years.
Lozowski enlisted in the Army on January 5th, 1951. “I did not enlist in the army to become a hero,” he told the audience. “I was sick of people in my house giving me orders, dress well, don’t say that, sit up, sit straight… the truth is that there was not much change in my life after I joined the army,” he said prompting the audience into laughter.
He was discharged from the army on January 5, 1954, after participating in some of the bloodiest battles of the Korean War, such as Chorwon Valley, Baldy Hill, Arsenal Hill, T-Bone Hill and Pork Chop Hill. In 1959, Hollywood made a war movie of the same name of this last hill starring actor Gregory Peck.
Lozowski served as an infantryman, carrying a Browning automatic rifle; he served in the Military Police, and finally as squad leader.
His decorations include among others, the Purple Heart. The Purple Heart is a military decoration presented on behalf of the President to those soldiers who have been wounded or killed in action while serving in the US military on or after April 5, 1917 to date.
