A priest's story about joining the Lithuanian army

The Christmas holidays of 1918 are over. We, the Survilis people, the senior students of the Panevėžys Gymnasium, are discussing what to do. It was dangerous to return to the gymnasium, because Bolshevik gangs are raging around Panevėžys. The youthful enthusiasm does not allow us to stay at home, because the Homeland is in danger. The communists are attacking from all sides and threatening our entire country. The bending element is causing unrest within, and the German occupation is holding us back with its iron claw...

Our town is actively recruiting volunteers. A large group of volunteers has already left before Christmas. On Epiphany Day, a large group of young men from the Kazokės village, organized by Povilas Lukšys, are leaving as volunteers for the army. The residents of the area have gathered in the town and we are solemnly sending them off. The farewell speech of the priest J. Skarupsk, delivered in the church, was especially moving. Some of his words have remained in my memory to this day. He said: “The Church and the Homeland are in danger. The most terrible enemy is already at the door. You are determined to sacrifice all your strength and even your life for the noblest ideals of humanity. If you die for the Homeland, the Homeland will remember you forever... Those who die for the Church, at the same time, adorn its altars. God bless you, and may the guardian angels protect you from all dangers"-

All those gathered wiped away their tears. The pastor's words came true. The Homeland has already immortalized Povilas Lukšys as the first volunteer to die. Another volunteer from the same unit, Florijonas Lukšys, died while leading Klaipėda. And the Homeland did not owe him anything...

So, after releasing the aforementioned volunteers, we, the high school students, gather in the organist's apartment and discuss all the affairs of the day. In addition to me, Aleksas Urbelis (later a lieutenant who died in battles with the Poles), Vincas Žilys, Ant. Valavičius, Vincas Švitrys, Justas Lukošius and others are present. I remember well when Valavičius was of the opinion that it was necessary to return to Panevėžys, and there we would see what to do next. All the rest of us were of the opposite opinion. Valavičius did so. As we later learned, he was denounced by his friends (Bistrickas, Sitavičius and others) as a futaitist, and together with Vaitiekūnas he was taken to Dvinsk prison. Only through great luck did he manage to escape, and Vaitiekūnas was shot by the Bolsheviks. All the rest of us decided to volunteer, and before that, for the sake of information. we decided to go to Kaunas. Al. Urbelis and I were chosen for that purpose. We fulfilled our mission happily and at our next small meeting we decided to go to Kaunas as soon as possible and there to divide up according to need. We set a date and plan for January 16, before dawn, for everyone to gather at my homestead and from there we would travel together. Justas Lukošius promised to get a good horse from a miller in his village (later this miller was called “Uncle Gusara”) and to “borrow” a large sled from a Jew living there so that we could all fit in. Anyone who has a weapon should definitely take it. If you find more people who want it, don’t leave them behind either. We dispersed in high spirits.

January 16th, while I'm still sleeping. Justas is already knocking on my door. He'll be ready soon And we're waiting for more to arrive.

Everyone in the house is excited and worried. Mom is tearfully preparing the most necessary things for the trip. It's not yet dawn, but there are no more arrivals in sight. And Žilys and Urbelis must definitely arrive, because they are closest to us, and we agreed to leave my hometown shelter before dawn. Why are they late? Maybe something happened to them? Maybe they will be waiting for us on the road? We are nervous and want to say goodbye quickly so as not to upset the family, especially the old mother.

It's getting dark, but they're still not here. Without waiting any longer, we say a tender goodbye to all the family, and with our father's blessing, our mother's mourning, but full of energy, we set off into the unknown... The stallion given to us by Mr. Kraniauskas looks really beautiful, and the sledge is huge, because it was planned for several people to ride it. Now it's just the two of us.

Justas immediately pulled out a military rifle that he had hidden in the sled and told me to be on guard, because anything could happen on the road. I was still a little soldier, but I held the rifle in my hands. However, while traveling through the villages, for some reason he told me to hide it. I didn't even dare to ask about that secret, but I just followed all his orders.

The cold grips our ears and nose, but we fly very quickly and do not notice how we reach Kėdainiai. We stop here, give the horse a rest, and we visit the barracks ourselves. The Panevėžys battalion is organized there and invites us to stay. We also meet Povilas Lukšis, who already has military insignia and is apparently a non-commissioned officer. We refuse to stay here because we have our own horse and want to be horsemen, which are not available here. We ask about our other friends, but no one has heard of them here, although we see quite a few Surviliški faces. After saying goodbye cheerfully, we hurry on.

Passing the village of Kruopiai, we are stopped by guards. It is also fortunate that we had a permit from Kėdainiai to pass, otherwise we would have wasted a lot. We soon reach Vendžiogala — the so-called “Polish Republic”. Justas is brave, because we have a good weapon. He says to me: “Give me the rifle now, and if anyone catches me, I will kill you immediately.” However, we happily pass Vendžiogala and decide to rest outside the town, at a farmer's. Although it is cold, our horse is covered in dew and needs rest. After an hour, we continue on. Our conversation keeps turning to the rest of our traveling companions. Where are they now? Could they have left without us? We had no doubt that they would go, because we knew their intentions well. (It should be said here that they all arrived later as volunteers, but we were only divided into other units. Almost all of them distinguished themselves in battles and achieved high ranks in the army. Vincas Žilys was an artillery general of independent Lithuania. When the Bolsheviks first occupied our land, he was sent to "courses", and his further fate is unknown. Uncle Urbelis and Tomas Sereika, of course, were already colonels and both were taken to Russia by the Bolsheviks. Vincas Švitrys was an aviation major and had earned a pension. His fate is unknown to me. Aleksandr Urbelis. left already mentioned, died in battles with the Poles).

Talking like this and thinking about the life of a soldier - a volunteer, we happily reach Kaunas. Since it was already late in the evening, we found a hotel with great difficulty and spent the night there. That same evening we tried to find out where the cavalrymen were being formed and decided to present ourselves there early in the morning and ask to be accepted together with our horse.

So, in 1919, on January 17, at the age of 18 years and 5 days, I was accepted as a volunteer into the First Hussar Squadron and assigned to its first platoon, the commander of which (the squadron) was the Polish officer Bielinskis, and his adjutant was H. Goštautas.