Franciszek GÄ…gor


Franciszek GÄ…gor was a Polish general, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces between 2006 and 2010.
He died in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash near Smolensk with the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński.

Life and Education

GÄ…gor was born in 1951 in Koniuszowa near Nowy SÄ…cz.
He attended the Artillery Officers' College at Wrocław in 1973. He also held qualifications at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań ; the National Defence University in Warsaw ; the NATO Defense College, and the National Defense University in Washington DC.

Military Service

He served in the 2nd Tank Regiment in the 1973 as an officer in a Self-Propelled Artillery unit. Afterwards, he became an operations and executive officer responsible for planning and operational activities in United Nations missions.
In 1978 he was posted to the Mechanized Infantry Officer College in Wrocław, where he lectured on preparations and training of Polish contingents designated for peacekeeping operations until 1988 and, during that time, took an active part in
UNDOF operations as an operations officer.
Between 1988 and 1990 General GÄ…gor served at UNDOF HQ as Deputy Chief of Logistics.
In 1991 he was an executive officer/second-in-command at the Polish Military Contingent for Desert Storm Operation. He later became the Deputy Sector Commander of UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation mission UNIKOM between 1991 and 1992.
In 1993, as a Colonel, he became the Chief of Polish Armed Forces Peacekeeping Division of the Polish Armed Forces.
He was a key member of the Polish Armed Forces preparations team for Polish accession to NATO, taking care of initial and first rounds of NATO Defence Planning for Poland.
He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1997.
In August 2003, he returned to UNDOF after being appointed by then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as its Head of Mission and Force Commander.
On 27 February 2006, Gagor was made Chief of General Staff of the Polish
Armed Forces upon appointment by the President of Poland. He was promoted to General on 3 May 2006.
Along with Krzysztof Paszkowski, he wrote the book: "Defense Doctrine of the Polish Republic for Peacekeeping Operations."
Gen. GÄ…gor is an author of numerous articles and publications on military affairs and co-operation, defence transformation and armed forces modernization.

Personal life

He was fluent in English, and communicated in French and Russian. He had an interest in history, English literature, skiing, tennis, volleyball and jogging. He was married to Lucyna and has two children, Katarzyna and Michał.

Medals and Decorations