The search for Zalewski

The age thing certainly is an issue if this Clarence Zalewski  is our Slim.   I have always thought he was a young man whilst in China. Hence his bond with Kirby Boyd. Yet,  14 or 15 seems a bit too young to be traveling alone. It is interesting to note that Clarence J. Zalewski became a POW at the tender age of 22.  And we know this album somehow came into Karen’s grandfather’s possession around 1941-42. So that would mean all the photos had to be taken prior to that time.   Is it possible this entire album spans only 1-2 years?

If so, this could be one possible scenario….

Clarence J. Zalewski was born and raised in Wisconsin, not that far a distance from Canada.   Perhaps he started his travels in Canada in 1933 at age 14.  (Peter, how old were the Chapman boys when they left for Canada?) Met up with some men (Edward Cockell?) making the trek with the British imported coolies through Canada. We do have photos of that same route.  In China, he becomes associated with WAA and the Loong Mow.   Makes his way to Europe in 1935 as a employee of WAA helping to “extract the country’s wealth” back to England.  In 1938 he enlists in the Army and earns the rank of corporal.  In 1941 he is taken as a POW in Germany.  (interestingly his brother Ralph, an electric truck driver, enlists after this in 1942.)

BTW, there any no records of Clarence J. Zalewski enlisting (or being drafted) into the American Army during WWII.  Yet, there are several confirmed records of him as a POW.  There is an enlistment record of his brother Ralph, but none for Clarence. Perhaps he enlisted while he was in England. If that was at all possible?  

As I wrote before, it is likely his Social Security registration or his death certificate could shine some light on whether or not his is our man.  Oh, I admit, it is doubtful that  Clarence J. Zalewski is Slim, but those records might allow us to remove him a possible suspect.  

I’ve reviewed the Zalewski family website quite thoroughly and there does not seem to  be any connection to Slim.  I even went as far as to track a bit of the genealogy for that Zalewski line to see if it could lead us to Clarence J. Zalewski. So far, no luck.  However, in doing so, I created a family tree on Ancestry.com  for  Clarence J. Zalewski and filled it in with some known dates we have.   I’ll send you both invites.   

HOWEVER……Here’s another tidbit for your perusal…meet American born, Czeslaw Zalewski (1901-1954).

What could make this widely fascinating to us is that there are several manifests listing a Czeslaw Zalewski as a crew member traveling from New York to several ports including England and China.  The problem—crew member Czeslaw Zalewski was born  in Poland somewhere around 1915.

But wait, there’s one more significant piece of information  – a ship’s manifest of a passenger Czeslaw Zalewski, born 1901 in Pennsylvania, traveling to and from England in 1927.  See attached…. Could this be Clare Slim Streak Zalewski?!