Frank Kowalski

Frank Kowalski (October 18, 1907 – October 11, 1974) was a career officer in the United States Army, and was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. After retiring as a colonel, Kowalski went on to serve as a United States representative from Connecticut.

Kowalski quit school in 1924, and enlisted in the Army. He received an appointment to West Point after a competitive examination, and graduated in 1930. He served initially in Infantry assignments, and then received a graduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He conducted experiments and research with weapons and vehicles in the late 1930s, and was responsible for training soldiers and units for deployment to the North African Theater at the start of World War II. He subsequently served at Allied Headquarters in London, where he planned and oversaw the execution of plans for de-militarizing and rebuilding Germany after the war. During the Korean War, Kowalski served in Japan, and his assignments included training and equipping a Japanese internal defense force; this force was organized as a police force rather than a military one, enabling Japan to skirt its post-World War II prohibition on training and equipping an army.

After retiring from the Army in 1958, Kowalski was a successful Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut. He served two terms, 1959 to 1963, and was an unsuccessful United States Senate candidate in 1962. After leaving Congress, Kowalski served on the Subversive Activities Control Board from 1963 to 1966.

Kowalski retired to Alexandria, Virginia. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1974, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.