Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991 TAG: 9103210560
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Walesa's scheduled wreath-laying at Paderewski's crypt today comes as arrangements near completion to fulfill President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 50-year-old promise that the musician's remains would be returned to his homeland "when Poland is free."
Walesa, on his first visit as Poland's president, was hailed by President Bush at a White House dinner Wednesday as a liberator and "an apostle of peace."
"You fought to preserve liberty for all - for individuals, choice; for societies, pluralism; for nations, self-determination," Bush said in a toast to Walesa.
Later, the president told reporters that he and Walesa discussed Eastern European security briefly.
"We're determined to keep a strong NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)," he said. "But we're not trying to project a threat to the Soviet Union." He said the Kremlin should not feel threatened by contacts made between Eastern European countries and NATO.
For years, visitors to Arlington have found it curious that the casket of Paderewski lies in one of the military cemetery's best-known spots, near the Tomb of the Unknowns.
"The date has not absolutely been set yet" for returning the remains to Poland, said Edward Rowny, a former U.S. arms control official of Polish descent who has played a key role in the arrangements.
In addition to his fame as a musician, Paderewski served as a Polish government official in 1919 and 1920. Poland was under Nazi occupation when he died in the United States on June 29, 1941. After the war came decades of communist rule.
by CNB