Artist's World War II experiences brought to life

Like so many others who served in World War II, Leon Granacki was a regular guy from a regular working-class neighborhood in Chicago. But what set him apart was his perspective on the war.

A graduate of Lane Tech High School, Leon was a member of the Art Club and designed covers of the school’s monthly magazine. After graduation he worked as a commercial artist for the Petersen Furniture Co. of Chicago, which later became Polk Brothers. His daughter, Victoria Granacki, said he designed newspaper ads and window displays for the company – up until he was drafted and sent to South Pacific.

“He was single and 26 when they drafted him. He was ripe for the pickings,” Granacki said. “He immediately tried to push his way into getting into the drafting section.”

Inspired by the Southern Cross as his troop transport crossed the equator, Leon designed the Americal Division patch for the Army’s only named division, created in the New Caledonia islands.

“He leveraged his art talents to survive and thrive, catapulting himself from private infantryman to master sergeant and mapmaker for General MacArthur in the Americal Division’s Intelligence Section,” Granacki said of her father. “He died over 30 years ago, in 1993, and never talked about it.”

Fortunately, it wrote down observations in his personal journal and it letters home.

After sitting on this information – much of it written in Polish – Granacki decided to chronicle her father’s story, supplemented by the original hand-drawn pen and ink maps, jungle watercolors, journal illustrations, scrapbook photos and insights gleaned from the 200 letters he sent home to “Dear Gang” – his extended Polish American family crowded together in a Chicago apartment building.

Granacki said that her dad tried to reassure his parents that he was safe. The letters, saved by his sister, include plaintive longings for family, holidays home, fishing, and a woman to love. They are poignant reminders of the personal effects of war on reluctant soldiers, she said.

“I realized his personal voice and he way he was surviving, reacting to the war was what made the letters important,” Granacki said. “He did not dwell on the horrors going on around him.”

Leon labored in the South Pacific for three and a half years without any stateside furlough, mapping enemy positions in the steamy, mosquito-infested jungles of Guadalcanal and Bougainville. Information came courtesy of U.S. aerial photos or maps captured from the Japanese.

“He was lucky in the sense that he and his buddy were in a tent doing map making while the battle raged outside,” Granacki said.

“An Artist Goes to War: Leon Granacki in the South Pacific WWII” was published in February 2024. It is available in hardcover, soft cover or as an E-book from Archway Publishing. His daughter will discuss it and her father during at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9, as part of the History Center’s monthly Coffee Talk. Register by calling 847-391-5399 or by emailing contact@desplaineshistory.org. Village Bank & Trust and the Kiwanis Club of Des Plaines help defray the cost, but donations supporting this free event are appreciated.

Victoria Granacki retired from Granacki Historic Consultants in 2017 after more than 40 years of master planning, urban design and historic preservation experience in Chicago and northeastern Illinois communities. Under her leadership, the firm prepared 25 National Register and local landmark nominations, Certified Historic Rehabilitation applications for more than 400 homeowners and Historic Resource Surveys with community histories for 60 northeastern Illinois municipalities.

“I inherited this unbelievable collection from my father and I was haunted for 25 years on how to do it justice,” said Granacki, 77, of Chicago. “I just felt I had to do something with it and to put his legacy out there.”