Czaja, Leo M.
Physician. Born July 21, 1889, in Chicago, Ill.; son of John and Frances (Staniszewski) Czaja. Grammar school at Chicago and finished St. Stanislaus College in 1907. Entered the University of Illinois School of Medicine, graduated with M.D. degree in 1911. Interneship of 18 months in St. Mary's of Nazareth Hospital at Chicago. Post graduate course in Europe. Returned to U.S. at the start of the World War, Sept., 1914. In 1915 volunteered for Red Cross Service in Serbia and chosen as member Forthingham Unit of N. Y. in charge of surgery. Received the rank of Major in the Serbian army. Remained during typhus epidemic and left in Oct., 1915. Decorated for service by the King of Jugoslavia with the cross of St. Sava. On Feb. 15, 1916 married Julia Belohlavek and have two sons, John and Thomas. Volunteered his services to the Medical Reserve Corps and was called to duty on Dec. 26, 1917 as first Lieutenant. Received special training in bone and joint surgery. Three months after was made Captain. Sailed for France in July, 1918 with the Base Hospital No. 11 of Chicago and put in charge of surgery in the hospital of a thousand beds and acted as Summary Court Officer of the organization. Dec 1918 was ordered to Paris as member of the American Commission to negotiate peace. Shortly afterwards was sent to Poland with the U.S. Food Administration where he reported on the food requirements of the hospitals in Poland. Subsequently he was transferred to Vienna to the Diplomatic Courier Service of the American Commission to negotiate peace; later was put in charge of the Vienna office. Was honorably discharged from the Army at Surgeon General's Office, Washington,
D. C. on June 19, 1919. Returned to Chicago and specializes in diseases and affliction of the bone and joints. For 8 years was on the staff of the Home of Destitute Children. Fellow of American College of Surgeons, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Clinical Orthopedic Society, Chicago, Orthopedic Society, American Medical Society, Illinois State Medical Society, Chicago Medical Society, Polish Medical and Dental Association, Past president of the Polish Medical Society of Chicago. Member of several fraternal organizations. On Oct. 7, 1935 was appointed by Hon. Edward J. Kelly, Mayor of Chicago, General Superintendent of Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium which office he holds.
Residence: 1800 South Ashland Avenue, Chicago, Ill.From: "Who's Who in Polish America" by Rev. Francis Bolek, Editor-in-Chief; Harbinger House, New York, 1943