Lt. Dennis Jurkowski

[cdillon]

I had the pleasure of working for Lt Jurkowski at Area 6/3 and ​he was one of many great bosses I worked for. Unfortunately I don't have any information to assist in his wife's endeavor but maybe we can pass this around and see if we can help her in some way.

The below information is being forwarded from Retired Sgt. Al Piantkowski.
　
See if some of our members can assist a police officers family in this matter.

Brief background: On 17 July 1970, Sgt. James Severin and Officer Anthony Rizzato were felled by sniper fire from the then active Cabrini Green Housing Projects, while on foot patrol in a newly formed 'Walk and Talk' program. A little published fact was that while they were initially wounded, efforts to remove their lifeless bodies were hampered by the continual sniper fire at rescue attempts in the open field where they lay. Two brave members in particular, Officers Dennis Jurkowski and Bob Sargus risked their personal safety and drove into the heart of the repeated sniper fire to remove the bodies of Severin and Rizzato in an effort to remove them to nearby Henrotin Hospital for treatment. Despite this valiant effort, both Sgt. Severin and Officer Rizzato subsequently died from their wounds.

Fast forward, present day: Mrs. Kathleen Jurkowski, widow of Denny Jurkowski contacted me with a request. Her now deceased husband, a lieutenant on the job at the time of his death, apparently never talked much about his police experiences at home. App. three years ago when her 32 y.o. son died, leaving her with a set of twins, they moved. During the move, the box that contained Dennis' whole police career was lost. The twins were born in 1977 and now that they are older and have some understanding what Cabrini was all about and heard some stories about their dad, they would like some knowledge of their dad's career. Since then she has been trying to put together a time line that included many of his awards, promotions and documented experiences.

Since the department computerized all the awards around 2006, the 'hard copies' of the awards describing the 'facts' in the citation were replaced by numbers and date(s). According to information Mrs. Jurkowski received, she was told that Dennis was awarded the Medal of Valor for his efforts in 1970, however he could not bring himself to accept the award for personal reasons.

So, if anyone that worked with Denny in Task Force or as a detective, sergeant, lieutenant etc. that has any documented information, newspaper articles etc. and could copy or scan them, they would be greatly appreciated. For example, if Denny was awarded the Medal of Valor, if anyone has a copy of the Star Magazine that contains the details that were normally included in the awards section or just the publication date/issue of the magazine, most copies are available on line to look up. ANY/ALL articles, stories, information is appreciated.

According to Kathleen, she would like to put this information together and stated, "Thought it would be something the kids would treasure and would like to give them at Xmas." Let's see if anyone out there can assist her in this venture and make this Christmas special on behalf of another of, 'Chicago's Finest.'

Fraternally,

Al Piantkowski
email: Sgtal018@hotmail.com