Biographical Sketch Eugene BakGene Bak was born in Poland. The Soviets deported him and his fam­ily to Siberia in 1940. After Germany declared war on Russia in 1942 Mr. Bak and his family escaped from labor camp in Siberia and went to Uzbekistan where his father joined the Polish Army in Exile. The Army and the civilians were evacuated from the Soviet Union to Iran in August 1942.As a young child Mr. Bak spent five years in Polish refugee camps in Iran, Pakistan, and India. He joined his father after the war in England in 1947. The family immigrated to the United States in 1952.Mr. Bak graduated from Ohio State University in 1957 with a BChE and obtained MBA from Seton Hall University in 1967. He also attended business programs at University of Michigan, Harvard University, and Syracuse University.Mr. Bak spent his entire career in the chemical industry. He joined Mooney Chemicals in 1970 as a plant manager in the Franklin, PA facili­ty. When Mooney Chemicals merged with Kokkola Chemicals, a Finnish firm, to form OMG he was named the president of Mooney Chemicals Division. He became President and Chief Operating Officer of OMG in 1994 and was elected to the Board of Directors of OMG in 1995. He retired in 1999 and now serves as a consultant to OMG.Presently Mr. Bak is the President of Polish American Cultural Center, named in honor of Pope John Paul П. He is also a member of board of trustees of several civic organizations and is involved in raising funds for charitable organizations dealing with helping children in Poland.Mr. Bak is married to Barbara and they have three children and three grandchildren.

The author chronicles the experiences of his family in pre-war Poland, wartime Poland, the Soviet Union, Iran, Pakistan, India, Britain, and the United States. The Bak family was deported by the Soviets to Siberia in 1940. After Germany declared war on Russia in 1942, the family escaped from a labor camp and went to Uzbekistan, where Piotr Bak, the author`s father, joined the Polish Army in Exile. The Army and civilian family members were evacuated to Iran in 1942. As a child, Eugene Bak spent five years in refugee camps in Iran, Pakistan and India. The family went to England in 1947 and immigrated to the United States in 1952, where Eugene Bak became president of a chemical plant in Franklin, PA.