A Girl Scout Hero 

By Marie Sontag

When I first met eighty-six-year-old Halina Butler, I asked about her role as a Girl Scout during the 1944 Polish Uprising. “Many say those Scouts were heroes,” I said.

Halina shook her head. “No, we weren’t heroes.” Her eyes misted. “We just did what we had to do.”

But I knew better.

Like all heroes, she had a choice.

When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, they banned Scouting. To keep the movement alive, its leaders established the Gray Ranks (Szare Szeregi), a secret Scouting organization. In 1937, at the age of eight, Halina pledged as a Girl Scout. After Germany’s invasion, she embraced the underground Scouts’ new oath—“I shall serve with the Gray Ranks, safeguard the secrets of the organization, obey orders, and not hesitate to sacrifice my life.”

 Halina’s covert Warsaw troop met once a week to prepare for the day when Scouts would work alongside the Polish Underground Army to push the Germans from Warsaw. To build stamina, the girls made fifteen-mile round trips to the Kampinos Forest. They kept citizens informed about the struggle by delivering illegal newspapers and transcriptions of London’s radio broadcasts. To bolster the Varsovians’ flagging spirits, the girls also helped paint the “Poland Fighting” symbol   on buildings throughout the city. By 1944, Halina, now fifteen, completed an underground communications course and learned how to operate field telephones.

A few weeks before their planned rebellion, Halina’s mother cornered Halina’s seventeen-year-old sister. “The uprising will start soon, Wanda. Will you take part?”

Having fallen in love, Wanda had no interest in fighting Germans. But, her mother’s question and Halina’s dedication swayed her. She, too, joined the fray.

The evening before the scheduled uprising, Halina, Wanda, and their mother knelt in their home and prayed for God’s protection. They parted the next day, each assigned a different position. Halina wouldn’t see her mother for another three-and-a-half months. Two years elapsed before Halina and Wanda met again, not knowing each had spent time in separate POW camps.

Did Halina have a choice to join the Warsaw Uprising?

Yes.

Was she a hero? Her accolades say yes.

For Halina, the answer is no. She just did what she had to do

(Photo above is of Halina as a baby around 1931 with her parents and her older sister.)