Filip Konowal

Filip Konowal
Born	15 September 1888 Kutkivtsi, Ukraine
Died	3 June 1959 (aged 70) Hull, Quebec
Allegiance	Russian Empire Canada
Years of service	1909 - 1913 (Russia) 1915 – 1919 (Canada)
Rank	Sergeant
Unit	77th Canadian Infantry Battalion 47th (British Columbia) Battalion Canadian Infantry 1st Canadian Reserve Battalion Canadian Forestry Corps Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force Governor General's Foot Guards
Battles/wars	World War I *Battle of Hill 70
Awards	Victoria Cross Cross of St George, 4th Class
Other work	special custodian in the Office of the Prime Minister

Filip Konowal VC (15 September 1888 – 3 June 1959) was a highly decorated Ukrainian Canadian soldier. He is the only Ukrainian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces. He was also entitled to the Cross of St George, 4th Class.

He is the patron of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360 (Konowal Branch) in Toronto.

Konowal's Early Life

Konowal was born 15 September 1888 in Kutkivtsi, Ukraine, in the Russian Empire. He served in the Imperial Russian Army before emigrating to Canada in 1914. He left a wife and three-year-old daughter behind, apparently hoping to rejoin them after making money in Canada.

First World War

Konowal was 28 years old when the war broke out. He volunteered and, being a trained army officer, was given post of Acting Corporal in the 47th (British Columbia) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. During the period 22–24 August 1917, at the Battle of Hill 70 in Lens, France, he performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Citation

The citation was published in a supplement to the London Gazette of 23 November 1917 (dated 26 November 1917):

No. 144039 A./Cpl. Filip Konowal, Can. Inf.

For most conspicuous bravery and leadership when in charge of a section in attack. His section had the difficult task of mopping up cellars, craters and machine-gun emplacements. Under his able direction all resistance was overcome successfully, and heavy casualties inflicted on the enemy. In one cellar he himself bayonetted three enemy and attacked single-handed seven others in a crater, killing them all.

On reaching the objective, a machine-gun was holding up the right flank, causing many casualties. Cpl. Konowal rushed forward and entered the emplacement, killed the crew, and brought the gun back to our lines.

The next day he again attacked single-handed another machine-gun emplacement, killed three of the crew, and destroyed the gun and emplacement with explosives.

This non-commissioned officer alone killed at least sixteen of the enemy, and during the two days' actual fighting carried on continuously his good work until severely wounded.

Honours

Filip Konowal's standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission gravestone, adjacent to his wife Juliette's family monument. It is inscribed "Filip Konowal V·C / Corporal / 47 Battn C·E·F / 3 June 1959 Age 72", with a simple Christian cross above and the Victoria Cross below.

Konowal's Victoria Cross medal was personally presented by King George V, and he was promoted to sergeant.

He was also awarded the British War Medal (1914–1920), Victory Medal (1914–1919), George VI Coronation Medal (1937), Elizabeth II Coronation Medal (1953), and entitled to the Cross of St George, 4th Class, from Russia.

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360 (Konowal Branch) in Toronto made him its patron in 1953. The Legion helped established the Konowal Prize, an annual scholarship grant at the Royal Military College of Canada.

After his death in 1959, he was buried at Notre Dame de Lourdes Cemetery, Ottawa under a headstone in section A, lot 502. His headstone was replaced in 1996 by an upright marker, and memorial plaques were unveiled:

• in the Cartier Square drill hall of the Governor General's Foot Guards in Ottawa
• at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, 952 Green Valley Crescent in Ottawa
• at Legion Branch 360 (Konowal Branch) in Toronto - transferred to the care of the Ukrainian National Federation, Toronto Branch in 2007 after Branch #360 was shut down by Dominion Command
• at the Royal Westminster Regiment's armoury (Konowal's regiment) in New Westminster, B.C - stolen since replaced with a stone marker
• on a cairn at Selo Ukraina Memorial Park, near Dauphin, Manitoba.
• in 2001, at Konowal's place of birth, Kutkivtsi, Ukraine.

Portrait commissioned for the Beaverbrook Collection of War Art

Konowal's Victoria Cross decoration

Konowal's medals at the Canadian War Museum. From the left: the Victoria Cross, British War Medal, Victory Medal, George VI Coronation Medal, Elizabeth II Coronation Medal

The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa purchased Konowal's Victoria Cross and other medals in 1969.

The decoration went missing sometime in the 1970s, apparently stolen, and was sold to an antique shop along with some Hawaiian coins in the mid-1990s. The shop owner believed the decoration was a fake, as it was inscribed with "For Valour" – evidently not realizing that all VCs awarded to Canadians had the English motto. (The source of confusion was the fact that a new Canadian VC was introduced into the Canadian Honours System in 1993, bearing the Latin motto Pro Valore). The decoration was rediscovered when the shop owner offered it to the Jeffrey Hoare Auction House in London, Ontario in April 2004. A British collector discovered the auction and notified Lubomyr Luciuk, co-author of a booklet about Konowal, who took steps to have the decoration secured. It was recovered by police, and returned to permanent display at the War Museum on 23 August 2004, 87 years after it was awarded.

Trial and Hospitalization

On 19 July 1919, Konowal accompanied Leontiy Diedek, a friend and fellow veteran, to a particularly rough area in Hull, Quebec. The two men went for dinner at a restaurant; Diedek left early in order to look at some bicycles at the home of William Artich, an 'Austrian' bootlegger and bicycle salesman. Konowal became aware of a commotion and went to investigate. He found that a fight had started between Artich and Diedek and that Artich had viciously beaten Diedek and had armed himself with a knife. Konowal gained control of the weapon and killed Artich with a single stab to the chest.

Konowal did not attempt to flee the scene; when police came, the First World War veteran stated "I've killed fifty-two of them, that makes the fifty-third." He was charged with murder. Veterans rallied around his cause and raised enough money to bail him out in October 1919. The trial was postponed three times and finally began in 1921. After extensive tests, it was found that Konowal was suffering from serious medical problems stemming from war wounds - there was increasing pressure on his brain and his condition was deteriorating. Medical experts testified that a wartime gunshot wound to the head was likely making Konowal mentally unstable, causing flashbacks to the war. The jury agreed and he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, then institutionalized for seven years. By the end of this period, his condition had improved dramatically, and he was released from a Montreal mental hospital in 1928. He eventually found employment as a caretaker at the House of Commons in Ottawa, with the help of a military associate. When Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King saw the colours of a Victoria Cross ribbon on Konowal while he was at work, King arranged for him to be reassigned to a lifetime job in King's personal office.

Last Years of his Life

Unfortunately, tragedy struck once again when Konowal attempted to contact his family in Soviet Ukraine: his wife had died during the Soviet famine of 1932–1933 (the Holodomor) and his daughter was nowhere to be found, though it was later reported she had survived and had left descendants. Konowal remarried, to a French-Canadian woman, Juliette Leduc-Auger, and adopted her two sons.

In 1956 he joined 300 other Victoria Cross winners in London for events celebrating the honour's centennial, hosted by then British prime minister Anthony Eden and Queen Elizabeth II.

Konowal died in 1959 at Hull, Quebec, aged 72. He was buried at Notre Dame de Lourdes Cemetery, Ottawa in section A, lot 502.

References

• Lubomyr Y. Luciuk and Ron Sorobey. Konowal: a Canadian Hero, 2nd ed. Kingston, Ontario: Kashtan Press for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360, 2000. ISBN 1-896354-24-6.
• Mitch Potter (13 October 2007) "Village honours our valiant soldier: Victoria Cross winner in WWI never learned Ukrainian wife, child survived Stalin's purges". TheStar.com. URL accessed 13 October 2007.
• Ron Sorobey. Filip Konowal, VC: The Rebirth of a Canadian Hero.

External links

• Filip Konowal, V.C.. Biography by Lubomyr Y. Luciuk and Ron Sorobey
• Legion Magazine Article on Filip Konowal
• Find-A-Grave profile for Filip Konowal