CLARK, NJ — For Paul Wojtowicz, this was a problem he said he simply couldn’t close his eyes to anymore. Wojtowicz, who lived in Clark for more than 20 years before moving to Toms River a year and a half ago, is responding to the war in Ukraine personally by offering to help in any way possible, and to do it in person.
He says this is something for which his life has been preparing him.
“I was a project manager in heavy construction for 45 years, but for 20 of those 45 I did military construction,” said Wojtowicz in an interview with Union County LocalSource on Monday, June 20. “Anything that the Army, Navy or Marines own, they go to the Army Corps of Engineers, who I worked with. … My title was ‘contractor quality control systems manager.’ I loved doing it.”
Wojtowicz has done other things as well in local communities.
“I did the Komodo dragon exhibit in the front entry of Turtle Back Zoo,” he said. “There were fence requirements, spacing requirements. It was really cool, but never as cool as working for the military. I worked with Camp Pendleton (Calif.), Picatinny Arsenal and a lot of West Point jobs. I did a project at Fort Dix. I did a project up in Watertown, N.Y., Camp Drum (now known as Fort Drum). Also Tobyhanna in Pennsylvania.
“I look back to the companies I worked for and probably half of them are out of business. I would just make ends meet. My wife was a director at Schering-Plough. She was really brilliant.”
Unfortunately for Wojtowicz, life has been pretty rough lately. For one thing, his wife died a few years ago.
“I really have nothing to do, so I just want to go and help people. These people have a lot to lose, and I really want to go help them.
“I’m partially disabled, so things are tough. The only thing I have is my house,” he added.
He said it was almost as though he was looking for a purpose in his life when this war came along.
“Feb. 24 was definitely the day that I made a transition in my life,” he said. “I saw when the Russians invaded Ukraine. And then they were blowing things up and killing people randomly. This is like the line in the sand for democracy. We’re gonna get hit from both sides. The Chinese are going to come after us when we’re weak.
“My dad was called up to be a B-29 pilot in World War II. He probably felt the same way I do,” Wojtowicz continued. “I don’t want to kill anybody, but if it means saving somebody’s life, I will. It’s mainly about helping right now. Just think, a whole generation of kids growing up without a dad.”
He praised the Ukrainian people and the Polish people, for doing so much for the Ukrainians.
Once Wojtowicz decided he wanted to help out in Ukraine, the next step was offering his assistance. He wasn’t exactly sure how to do that, so he just started making connections online.
“I met people through LinkedIn and started hunting down anything I could find about Ukraine. And you start meeting people, and I would get hold of them and tell them my story.
“I’m working with Mark Kilbane,” added Wojtowicz. “He’s just outside of Washington, D.C. He escaped Mariupol … days before they obliterated it, with his wife and daughter. He’s giving me some advice. When I get over there, I’m going to meet some of his people. I’m just trying to figure out the best way to survive.”
Kilbane said he retired from active duty in the Army after 20 years of service and worked for NATO during a stint in Turkey in 2014-2015.
“I was working in Ukraine, originally for the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. There are 57 countries that are members of the OSCE, and they have been monitoring the war since it began,” said Kilbane in an interview with LocalSource on Sunday, July 3.
“Doctors, humanitarians, they drive around without weapons to see what is happening,” he said.
“It is an observation mission. The OSCE is often the only organization besides the Red Cross. We had access to speak to local people, and therefore we coordinate international aid. We did that mission for a year. I was sent by the Department of State. I was on the OSCE mission, and I stayed in Ukraine for a personal reason. Then I got out with my family one week before the bombs dropped.
“I decided to create an entity to help Ukraine, called Fight for Ukraine,” Kilbane continued. “The private sector assistance has been ad hoc, willy-nilly, not very organized, so I put something on LinkedIn calling for donations or a call for people at one point.”
“Paul, on his own, has a great interest in Ukraine and has been contacting different organizations and people,” said Kilbane. “All of the principals have been living in Ukraine, who are also prior service people, U.S. military.”
“Paul reached out to me on LinkedIn,” he continued. “My thought was, what would I do with this organization after the war, and my thought was to turn it into a reconstruction company. I thought Paul’s engineering background would be a good fit for the company.
He’s been doing a great job. He has a lot of energy. I don’t have a lot of history with Paul, maybe a couple of months, but during that time, he’s grown an awful lot.”
Wojtowicz explained how he intended to get there.
“I had to wait to get my passport done. I was set to see the Rolling Stones play in Hyde Park (in London) on July 3,” he said. “All I really had to do was change my plans so I’m not coming back (after the concert). It’s like a bucket list item for me.
“After the concert, the next day, I’m leaving on a high-speed train that goes under the English Channel for Paris. I always wanted to do that. Then I’ll get a picture of me in front of the Eiffel Tower. Then, the next day, I’m going to Ukraine. I’m going to be staying on the couch of an architect I met. I don’t want to wear my welcome out, so maybe after five days, I’ll make my way to Lviv, then to Dnipro, then the special forces guy that I’ve been staying in touch with. I might make it into Kyiv. I’m not afraid of dying, but I want to help out.”
Wojtowicz insists it’s something he feels he has to do.
“I’m kind of associated with a guy who’s married to a Ukrainian woman, and he used to work with NATO,” he said, referring to Kilbane. “I’m not really looking to get paid. I’m just looking to survive. Maybe when they start rebuilding the country, I’ll take some, but not now. How can you take money from these people? They’re getting destroyed.”
“I helped this (nonprofit human rights organization) called Razom, and they’ve been sending IFAKs; they’re first aid kits,” Wojtowicz continued. “I helped them for a week. They were all the way up in Port Reading. I started telling people I was ready to volunteer. I’m 65. It has to be someone who doesn’t have the responsibility” of a family depending on them to come back soon, as opposed to staying there until the job is done, he explained. “I can actually help. I used to race motorcycles. I flew planes. Anything that was crazy, I would do because it was fun. Luckily, I got that out of my system. If anything says anything on my urn, ‘He was a good guy.’ That’s all I want.”
Photo Courtesy of Paul Wojtowicz