A Tale of Two Chester Dombroski's

1939-40 Lorain City Directory Listing

Last week I posted an article from July 1942 in which an army corporal wrote to the Lorain Journal to tell about the heroism of Chester Dombrowski, a soldier in his Landing Combat Team that was from Lorain.

After looking through the available city directories, I wasn't sure if Chester made it through the war and returned to Lorain. That's because the names Dombrowski and Dombroski were interchangeable in the directories, making it difficult to figure out who was who after the war. A person with the last name Dombrowski living at a specific address might see his name spelled as Dombroski in another addition – and vice-versa.

Adding to the confusion is that there were two Chester Dombroski/Dombrowski's living on W. 18th Street that served in World War II.

Anyway, I managed to sort it all out. Here are short bios of each of the two Chester Dombroski's.

Chester W. Dombroski – the soldier in the 1942 article – did indeed survive World War II. He worked at U. S. Steel before moving to California. He passed away at Los Angeles General Hospital at the age of 60 in 1966. Surviving him was a daughter, Mrs. William Astorino and four grandchildren; four sisters, and two brothers. (As a final indignity, one brother's name was spelled Domborski in the obituary, and the other, Dombrosky.)

Chester A. Dombroski of Lorain also proudly served his country in World War II in the European Theater of War. He also worked at U. S. Steel, employed as a peeler operator in the conditioning mill. He was a member of Nativity BVM Church as well as the Polish Legion of American Veterans, Pulaski Post 38, and the Polish American Citizens Club. Surviving him was his wife, Angela; two sons,  his mother, Mrs. Mary Dombroski, and two sisters. He also passed away at the age of 60, in 1973.