The Wartime Experiences of a Cleveland Czechoslovak Legionnaire

Traces the recruitment, wartime experiences and post war activities of approximately 440 Cleveland Czech and Slovak Legionnaires who served in the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd Regiments in France in WWI starting with Professor Masaryk’s visit to Cleveland in 1918 through the return of French and British WWI medals to Daladier and Chamberlain for their appeasement of Hitler by conceding Czech lands to Germany in 1938.  Provides a unique insight into the Legionnaire’s experiences through detailed entries from Ladislav Krizek’s diary, excerpts from various correspondence including personal mail sent on Pressig designed recruiting postcards, newspaper articles and personal memoirs and photographs of Krizek’s regiment contemporary with the diary entries.  Discusses the pre-war and postwar meeting places of the Legionnaires and the purchase of a 99 grave site section at Crown Hill Cemetery in Twinsburg, Ohio for burial of the Legionnaires.