'The Colonel' Michael Gutowski remembered
By John Gallagher

On Sept. 23, 10 days after his 96th birthday, the body of Michael Gutowski was laid to rest in his homeland of Poland.

High-ranking military personnel, notable politicians, and many, many friends surrounded the grave. The Canadian ambassador stepped forward and read aloud a two-page letter from Prime Minister Harper saluting the famous equestrian and soldier. Although he was born and died in Poland he had been a resident of Caledon for the last 40 years and was very well known and respected in the Canadian equestrian world.

He was a young Polish cavalry officer in the 1930s and in 1936 he competed on the Polish army team at the Berlin Olympics where their team won the silver medal. His life changed dramatically when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. He had many stories of his life in the cavalry at that time and even claimed to have attacked the Germans with sabers waving.

His wife Zofia and his two small sons were sent to a detention camp. While trying to slip them extra food, he was captured and placed in front of a firing squad. He said he crossed himself and prepared to die but one of the German officers recognized him from the Olympics and

told him to leave. He managed to cross Europe, mostly on foot, and a month later he was in Scotland were he trained with other Polish exiles.

Canada and Poland fought closely beside one another, and he had now exchanged his horse for a tank. He was with the troops at Normandy on D-day and under the command of General Maczek the Polish armored division fought with the Canadians at the famous battle of Falaise. For his outstanding military contributions he was awarded many medals, including the Viertuti Miltrai from Poland, the Croix de Guerre with palm from France, and the

U.S. Legion of Merit, signed by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

He immigrated to Canada, followed by his young family. His knowledge of all things equestrian was recognized and within a very short time he was asked to coach the Canadian Equestrian team. Olympian Jim Elder spoke at a memorial held at the Caledon Riding and Hunt Club and mused "We were just backyard riders at that time and he introduced an actual training system which is still in use today."

Zofia and Michael made their home on Creditview Road, near the Caledon Riding and Hunt Club. He

instructed at the Chinguacousy Country Club (now the Caledon Country Club) for many years and literally hundreds of Caledon riders benefited from his talents. He was noted for his temper tantrums when he found a rider's mistakes particularly frustrating, and it was always the fault of the rider, not the horse. However, he was actually quite a softie and the local ladies soon found that he could not stand to see a tear and would stop in midtantrum if he thought he was in danger of hearing a sob.

He was still instructing, and getting on the horse to demonstrate his point when he was a young man of 92.

He returned to his native Poland in 2003 where he was appointed aide de camp to the president of Poland and promoted to the rank of General. His son Peter, a retired Air Canada captain, said he had always dreamt of "going home" even though he loved Canada and had spent nearly half his life in the beautiful Caledon hills.

A few weeks ago some of his friends and students held a memorial at the Caledon Riding and Hunt Club, which was attended by almost 100 people. It was very moving as several famous equestrians spoke of the love and admiration they had for the man we all knew as "The Colonel."