Rita Cosby has collected her share of awards as a broadcast journalist. But she thinks her most interesting achievement is the story she recently finished writing.

“This was not a book; it was a journey,” Cosby said.

Her inspiration and partner on this journey is a man who holds a dear place in her heart: her father, Richard Cosby.

The journey began while Cosby was going through her late mother’s belongings, years after her death. She discovered a worn suitcase containing a bloody armband from the Polish Home Army, a tag with a prisoner number from Stalag IVB and an ex-POW card with the name Ryszard Kossobudzki.

Cosby knew that she was not just opening a suitcase full of war relics, but had found clues to answers about her father’s past that had always been a mystery.

“I had seen scars on his body and unusual marks on his arms,” Cosby said. His secrets remained unspoken until 35 years later when she found “the tattered mementos of his past.” These keepsakes compelled her to further explore the repressed memories her father had locked away decades before.

“Now that he is getting older, he realizes how important it is that we learn about our history. I asked him if I could share it with others, and he said yes. He hopes it helps other people face their fears and move forward,” she said.

In her book, Quiet Hero: Secrets from my Father’s Past, Cosby reveals how she uncovered the story of her very brave father and his long-kept secret of his experiences during World War II.

As a teenager, Ryszard Kossobudzki began distributing antiwar propaganda near the Warsaw ghetto in the war-ravaged capital of Poland. In the fifth year of German occupation, he joined the Polish Resistance by lying about his age. During the 1944 Warsaw uprising, he narrowly escaped the Nazis by using the only route available, through the Warsaw sewers. He was severely injured by a mortar shell during the final days of the uprising. He was taken captive and transported by boxcar to Zethain POW camp, near Dresden, Germany. In January 1945, the prisoners were marched across the country to Muhlberg and held at one of the largest POW camps, Stalag IVB.

Starving and weighing just 90 pounds, Cosby’s father was still one of the healthiest prisoners in the camp. He led approximately 100 other captives in a courageous escape in April 1945. About two and a half days into their escape, a plane flew over, low enough for the pilots to spot them. It was also close enough for the escapees to see that it was not the enemy, but a spotter plane from the U.S. military.

The pilots dropped a chocolate bar wrapped in a note saying the escapees had 15 miles to walk and they would be free. After being saved by U.S. forces, Kossobudzki joined the Polish Second Corps in Italy.

Kossobudzki came to America in 1956. He became an American citizen, changed his name to Richard Roger Cosby, married and raised a family including Rita and her brother, Alan, in Greenwich, Conn.

When his daughter reached out to him after her mother’s death, she was looking for answers to years of unasked questions. “He had not been back to Poland for 65 years and said that he would probably never go back. Revisiting what happened there was like revisiting a nightmare. I knew I could never change his mind, but if he said maybe, there could be a chance,” Cosby said. Her father eventually considered returning to his homeland with her.

She began working with the Polish government and used her investigative journalism skills to uncover further details of his past. She discovered her father and the troop members he fought with were all known by special code names to keep their identities safe. When he learned other survivors remained, he knew he would not recognize them until he heard their code names.

They went to Poland together last November and spent time with the late President Lech Kaczyinski and his wife, Maria Kaczyinska. Her father was recognized for his heroic service at the presidential palace. [Editor’s note: Cosby spoke about her friendship with the president and first lady at a memorial service in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City the day after they died in a plane crash.]

“Everywhere we walked, when they learned who my dad was, people were elbowing each other, saying, ‘Upriser, that’s the upriser.’ You could tell how much it meant to the Polish people to have an upriser who survived — alive to share his important part of history.”

Richard Cosby confirmed the impact the trip made on him and his daughter. “It was wonderful to see how much the Polish people cared about what my comrades and I did to fight for freedom in my homeland. Seeing plaques or monuments on virtually every corner meant so much to me.”

The experience of sharing the story has brought a whirlwind of emotions for both father and daughter. “I encourage all daughters and sons to get to know their parents and their pasts. You will learn some amazing stories and learn much more about yourself in the process,” Cosby said.

Now 84 years old, Richard Cosby feels pride about his past and the secret he kept for so long. “I feel as if I am a changed man,” he said. “I was able to face the nightmares of my past, which was scarred from war. Returning to Poland and spending time with my daughter have made me want to participate in life more. I hope this story inspires others to learn more about their parents and their own family history.”

“This has been the most extraordinary year of my life. There will never be a more important story for me personally. It is one of the best, most unorthodox things I have ever done,” Rita Cosby said.

To Rita Cosby, her father is a man of many names: Ryszard Kossobudzki, the upriser, the survivor and Richard Cosby. Today she knows him as “the quiet hero.”