Polish Army Col. Edward Chyla, the Commander of the Polish Territorial Defense Force Training Center, presented the bronze Polish Armed Forces Medal to a Jackson County emergency management technician, an Illinois State Trooper from Mahomet, an East Dundee electric worker, and a readiness noncommissioned officer from Tinley Park on March 25 at the Illinois Army National Guard’s Marseilles Training Center. The Polish Armed Forces Medal is approved by the Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak.
The Illinois National Guard Soldiers received the medal for their excellent work last May and June with Polish Training Center Soldiers training Polish Territorial Defense Force Soldiers in Poland on mass casualty response and emergency medical care, use of the Javelin anti-tank system, and in sniper operations. Many of the Polish trainers have helped train Ukrainian soldiers, as they fight off the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Receiving the Polish Armed Forces Medal were: Illinois Army National Guard Capt. Drew Weaver, of Mahomet, and an Illinois State Trooper in civilian life; Illinois Army National Guard Sgt. Elizabeth Hernandez, of Murphysboro, a Jackson County emergency medical technician in civilian life; Illinois Army National Guard Sgt. Albert Herda, of East Dundee, an electrical worker for RPM Building Solutions of Crystal Lake in his civilian life; and Illinois Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Paul Herrick of Tinley Park, the full-time readiness noncommissioned officer for the 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment based in the General Richard L. Jones Armory on Chicago’s South Side, and also a reconnaissance platoon sergeant in the 1-178th Infantry.
Col. Chyla said he recommended the soldiers for the Polish medals, and they were approved by Defense Minister Błaszczak “in recognition of outstanding efforts and cooperation between the Polish Armed Forces and the United States.”