Edward Peter Dombrowski

Edward P. Dombrowski, died Wednesday, March 17, 2004, after a lengthy illness. He was born May 16, 1915, in New Jersey, son of the late Joseph A. and Opolonie Kwiatkowski Dombrowski. He had lived most of his life in Alabama., a former longtime sergeant-at-arms and doorman of the Alabama House of Representatives,He also was the first manager for the Normandale Shopping Center in Montgomery, Ala.

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, Attaining the rank of colonel, he retired from the U.S. Air Force after more than 30 years. He was assigned a bombardier aboard a B-25 that was shot down over Germany in 1944.captured and held as a prisoner of war. He escaped & 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 in 1993.

Survivors include his wife, Annie Bernice Dombrowski of Jemison; one son, Edward Tom Dombrowski of San Antonio; one daughter, Gena Barnes Dombrowski Fullilove 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.