User:Mike subritzky

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Biography of:

Mike Subritzky New Zealand historian, writer, soldier and war poet.

Born: Michael Raphael Gabriel Subritzky-Count Kusza, 1950 in Kati Kati, New Zealand, from an old Polish noble family (ennobled by HM King John Albert of Poland 1495 and granted the everlasting right to bear the arms KUSZA (Crossbow)).

Education: Saint Joseph's Convent Waihi, Waihi College, Wananga o Aotearoa.

Married: Marilyn Gaye Monica (nee: Williams), six children.

Military Service: Served in the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve: HMNZS Ngapona, HMNZS Koura, HMNZS Kuparu 1968-69; Royal New Zealand Navy: HMNZS Tamaki, HMNZS Philomel, HMNZS Kiama 1970-71; Royal New Zealand Artillery: 161 Battery Papakura, 31 (B) Battery Dunedin, Army Recruiting Officer Hamilton, Gunnery Instructor Waiouru 1971-85; Royal New Zealand Air Force: Senior Instructor RNZAF Recruit Training School Woodbourne 1985-86; Royal New Zealand Artillery: 161 Battery Papakura, Defence Headquarters Wellington, 2nd Canterbury Regiment Royal New Zealand Infantry 1987-90; Polish Government (In Exile) 1990-91. Also: 13 Tours of Duty, including: 28th (ANZUK) Field Regiment Malaya 1979; VXE6 Squadron US Navy Task Force 43 Antarctica 1973; Peacekeeping with 1st ZIPRA Battalion Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, Assembly Place LIMA Operation Tangent, Rhodesian War 1979-80; RAAF 2nd Airfield Defence Squadron 'Air Assault' Wing Australia 1986.

War Veteran's Organisations: Honorary Colonel, California State Medical Reserve 1991; Honorary Lieutenant Colonel, Polish (Independent) Reserve Brigade 1990; President of the International War Veterans Poetry Archive since 1998; Honorary member of 28 (Maori) Battalion Association 2001; Historian, D Company 28 (Maori) Battalion Association since 2002; National President of the New Zealand Antarctic Veterans Association since 2002 -; Executive Te Awamutu Returned Services Association since 1999; ANZAC Day (Memorial Day) Parade Commander since 2001; Te Awamutu RSA Diggers Day Committee since 2001; Te Awamutu RSA YEAR OF THE VETERAN Committee 2006.

Operation Enduring Freedom:Daily electronic news service "Subritzky's Word of the Day" to all ships in the US Navy's 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf 2001/2002/2003. Daily electronic news service "Subritzky's Kiwi Word of the Day" to all ships in the New Zealand Fleet, plus 29 other RNZN missions during Operation Enduring Freedom 2003/2004/2005/2006.

Community Organisations: Honorary Ranger, NZ Wildlife Service 1982-90. Polish Nobility Association since 1986. New Zealand Mountain Safety Council (NZMSC) since 1982. NZMSC Bushcraft and Firearms Instructor since 1982. Secretary Marlborough Branch NZMSC 1993-96. NZMSC Meritorious Service Commendation 1994.

Publications: New Zealand historian, author and war poet. Numerous published papers (chivalry, heraldry and nobility), documents (NZ history and military history), articles and poems in a wide variety of media; a dozen books on a variety of subjects and: The Subritzky Legend - Official New Zealand Sesqui Centennial Project (Heritage Press, 1990); Subritzky Shipping - A Heritage of Sail 1843 - 1993 (Three Feathers 1993); Order of Saint Stanislas 1765 (Three Feathers 1994); The Vietnam Scrapbook "The Second ANZAC Adventure" - Official New Zealand Army 150th Anniversary Project (Three Feathers, 1995); History of the Polish Government (in exile) 1939-1990 (Three Feathers, 1996); The Flak Jacket Collection - an anthology of personal war poems (Brian Riggir, 2001); Order of Saint Stanislas Handbook (Kiwiana Publishing, 2004).; Spirit of ANZAC – an anthology of war poems for Kiwi College Kids (Kiwiana Publishing, 2006).

Edited: Child of Destiny - The Tom Rangi Story, (Three Feathers, 1991); Nobility of the Polish Commonwealth (Polish Nobility Association, 1991); With Our Boys in Vietnam - Poems by Betty May Brown, (Three Feathers, 1996); Poems of Distant Wars (Brian Riggir, 2001); Waikato Word Weavers (Kiwiana Publishing 2002); The Great Kiwi Summer Poetry Slam 2001/02 (Kiwiana Press, 2002); Locked Down - An Anthology of New Zealand Prison Poetry, (Kiwiana Press 2003); Who will cry for the Soldiers (Kiwiana Publishing 2003); Kiwi Gunners in War and Peace (Kiwiana Publishing 2004).

Sports: Karate, Black Belt 3rd Dan. Represented the NZ Army, Marlborough and New Zealand. NZ Shotokan Team Captain, Pan Pacific Tournament in New Caledonia 1986. New Zealand National Shotokan Champion 1987. Inducted into the Marlborough Sports Hall of Fame 1993.

Poetry: Numerous poetry awards. Work published in numerous overseas anthologies. Selected to have his work published in the Australian and New Zealand war poetry anthology "The Happy Warrior" (Sid Harta Publishers, Australia, 2001). War poetry reading on New Zealand National Radio, Anzac Day 2001. Selected to have his work published in "Angels In Vietnam - Women Who Served" (Writers Club Press, USA, 2002). SCAPA Project - Top 100 New Zealand Poets reading their work on CD and Tape (Auckland University, 2002). Runner-Up Australasian 'Strands of Silver' poetry competition 2003. Honoured by the New Zealand Government by having his poem "Pastures Green" read on ANZAC Day 2004, in Westminster Abbey, by Lord Freyberg; Honoured by the New Zealand Government by having his poem "Spirit of ANZAC" read on ANZAC Day 2004, at the ANZAC Memorial, Hyde Park, London by the Hon Russell Marshall.

Civic Awards: Nominated in the Montana New Zealand Book of the Year Awards 1996 and 2002. Named Book of the Quarter by Texas State University April - June 1998. Honoured by the NZ ex-Vietnam Services Association by having a copy of his book "The Vietnam Scrapbook - The Second ANZAC Adventure" laid at the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. during the 1997 pilgrimage. Awarded the American Vietnam Veterans (honorary) Distinguished Service Medal 1997, citation "for his contribution to all veterans of the Asian conflict and immortalising the Vietnam Veterans of New Zealand for all time."

Subritzky has written some of the most important New Zealand war poetry of the 20th and 21st century, and is one of the best known New Zealand poets on the international scene. He writes his war poetry in the gritty, 'in your face' style of the barrack room and the forward trench, and is regarded as 'The Kiwi Kipling.'- Pangolin Times.