Fifty years after the Battle of the Bulge, AI Babecki spearheaded the Indian River Chapter for Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and served as Chapter President for many years. During World War II, AI served in the 1255th Engineer Combat Battalion. In 1989 he became the original editor of the newsletter for that group and continued writing, typing and even mailing the Bulletin to members across the country.

AI and his wife Dory had moved to Barefoot Bay, Florida in 1986 after he retired from NASA – Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, MD.

After a life of service, both military and community, AI Babecki passed away on January 17, 2015, at the age of 89. After cremation, AI was put to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with a military service.

Here is a poem Al Babecki wrote about the war in 1994:

IN MEMORIAM

This memorial service is a rightful obligation
For a group like ours to perform with concentration,
To honor those persons who meant a great deal
In our young lives when war was unreal.

These were our Friends, our Comrades in arms.
They  came from cities, villages, and farms;
And, with us, they trained to build and to kill,
To help our country in its hours of peril

Brought on by despots in the East and the West
Who threatened our Freedom, and that of the rest.
These were our Buddies with whom we spent time
In huts and in tents, on ship and Europe’s grime.

On them we learned to depend for our future.
And they on us: the Buddy System was super,
Except for those few who paid with their lives
So the Battalion, the U.S., and democracy survives.

These were our Pals; they showed us much fun,
Along with the engineer missions we had run.
We’ll never forget them as long as we live,
For they had much to offer, and much to give.

And, whether they died in battle, or later,
To us their service couldn’t have been greater.
And, now as we honor these heroes of ours,
Let us pause to remember them as among  God’s stars;

And, as we prepare for our next year’s reunion,
We should maintain with them a constant communion;
For what is a man, if he’s not remembered
By his family and friends for all that he’s rendered?

Our time, too, will come for certain
As Life lowers on us its final curtain.
We hone that those who remain behind
Will meet like this to keep us in mind.

submitted by his daughter, Barbara Jones