NOTES ON PEOPLE (06/22/97)

NOTES ON PEOPLE

Col. Kos presented The Legion of Merit

WASHINGTON - Maj. Gen. James W. Warr, commanding general of the 416th Engineer Command in Darien, lll., on behalf of the president of the United States, presented The Legion of Merit to Col. Michael R. Kos, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army Reserve, for his exceptional and outstanding performance of duty.

The medal was presented to Col. Kos during a retirement dinner held in his honor. Col. Kos completed 30 years, seven months and 15 days of military duty. The dinner was attended by a number of general officers, fellow officers and various guests.

The Legion of Merit is the highest award that can be awarded to a soldier in a non-combat situation.

Col. Kos was originally drafted into the U.S. Army on August 2, 1966. A lawyer, he applied and received a direct commission to captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, which is the legal branch of the Army. It should be noted that in 1966, during the Vietnam buildup, there were over 200 applicants for every slot available in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. After serving four years on active duty, he stayed in the Army Reserves until his retirement on March 17, occupying positions of increased responsibility.

On February 21 a private meeting took place in the Pentagon with the judge advocate general of the U.S. Army, Maj. Gen. Michael J. Nardotti Jr., and Col. Kos, his wife, Daria, and his friends Bohdan Watral, and Oleh and Ivanka Karawan. This meeting had been called by the Army officers who had worked and cooperated with Col. Kos during his years of military service.

For Col. Kos this is the culmination of an Army career that he loved and to which he was dedicated. Following the private meeting, Gen. Nardotti invited Col. Kos and guests to a reception with approximately 30 Judge Advocate General's Corps officers who work in the Pentagon. The general gave a speech describing Col. Kos' career and presented him with a plaque commemorating his 30 years of service to the Judge Advocate General's Corps. Col. Kos, in his reply, spoke of his fondness for the Army, his Ukrainian ancestry and the importance of the occasion both to him and his wife.

On February 22, at a private meeting with Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S. Yuri Shcherbak and leaders of the Ukrainian Credit Union movement, Col. Kos, among others, received a Certificate of Honor for his work in the credit union movement.

Col. Kos is the chairman of the board of directors of Selfreliance Ukrainian Federal Credit Union in Chicago. He also is a member of UNA Branch 22.

Wins reporting award from Alaska Press Club

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sonya Senkowsky, a 1990 graduate of La Salle University in Philadelphia, and daughter of Dr. Andrew and Marie Senkowsky, of Van Etten, N.Y., was presented the 1997 first place award of the Alaska Press Club for best reporting by a daily paper on health or science.

Ms. Senkowsky, who is a staff feature writer for the Anchorage Daily News, won the award for her article, "Beyond Band-Aids: A Day in the Life of a School Nurse."

Ms. Senkowsky's reporting has previously appeared in the Washington Times, Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as in The Ukrainian Weekly.

Ms. Senkowsky was the recipient of several UNA scholarships throughout her four years at La Salle, where she majored in English and was a features and entertainment editor, as well as a columnist, for the weekly campus newspaper The Collegian. She is a member of UNA Branch 430.

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