A Valentine’s Day love story. Remembering Antonio Puchalski (1923-2006) and Sgt. Gordy Carson (1924-1998).

A Valentine’s Day love story. Remembering Antonio Puchalski (1923-2006) and Sgt. Gordy Carson (1924-1998).


Stephen Ambrose described her at the end of his book Band of Brothers with one simple line: “Carson fed an educated, beautiful, sophisticated Polish blonde.”

Friends called her Toni. She was a blue-eyed dynamo who became a wife, widow, smuggler, slave, mother and killer—all before she turned 23.

Toni’s father and older brother were part of the Polish army. They’d survived the initial invasion by the Nazis but were murdered by the Russians. Toni wed a Polish army officer when she was 18. They had a baby named Richard. Toni’s husband soon died in the war. 

Toni joined the Polish resistance, smuggling bread to Polish fighters at night. She came home one day and discovered that her mother and baby had been picked up by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. There was nothing anybody could do.

Toni continued her work with the resistance. She and another fighter killed a Russian officer, and Toni was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. Since she spoke German fluently, her captors used her as an interpreter. Toni was transferred to another labor camp, where a miracle happened: she was reunited with her mother and baby. They stayed in the camp for 3.5 years, where her mother died. 

Gordy Carson, an original Toccoa man, parachuted into Normandy and Holland, fought in Bastogne, was wounded and recovered twice, and finally celebrated on the balcony of Hitler’s hideout in the Alps. 

Gordy fell in love with Toni in Kaprun, Austria, while Easy Company was on occupation duty. They dated and married while Toni still lived in the displaced persons’ camps. Toni gave birth to their son, Gary Carson, in the camps. 

Eventually the entire family was able to come to the United States. 



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