Letter to President Reagan (30 March 1984)
Sir:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Polish Government (in Exile) respectfully proposes that America awards her highest civilian honor — the Medal of Freedom — to the 14,000 Polish officers whose fight for freedom was ended by Soviet bullets in their heads in the Katyn Forest.
The editor of "Life of Polonia" initiated the project to erect a monument in New York (opposite the United Nations Building) in memory of the Katyn massacre.
This monument will be decorated with the Polish military order of Virtuti Military.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in Exile) would like to hope that America, remembering the blood shed by Polish soldiers in the fight for freedom in the tragic days of September 1939, and later by Narwik, in the Battle of England, in the Warsaw Insurrection, in Tobruk, Monte Cassino, Falais, etc., will acknowledge the Polish part in the Allies' victory by decorating the Katyn Monument with the Medal of Freedom (or appropriate military order).
This proposal is submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in Exile) for your kind consideration and action as the conscience of America will dictate.
Respectfully yours, in the name of Freedom for Poland, America, and the World,
Brig. Gen. Waclaw Bakierowski, P.R., K.W.
Minister and Deputy Prime Minister