Jonas Vabalas
Captain Jonas Vabalas | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 28, 1908 Daugėlaičiai, Lithuanian SSR |
| Buried | Sudervė Cemetery |
| Allegiance | Lithuania |
| Years of service | 1930–1940 |
| Rank |  Captain |
| Unit | 5th Infantry Regiment |
| Awards | Lithuanian Independence Medal (1928) |
| Alma mater | War School of Kaunas |
Jonas Vabalas (28 October 1908 – 13 May 1978) was a Lithuanian military officer and sportsperson. An accomplished officer, Vabalas was nineteen times champion in Lithuanian sports competitions, including those of athletics, pentathlon, basketball, football, shooting, and fencing. Vabalas was the winner of a fencing championship organized by Belgian military officers in Brussels in 1937.[1]
Biography
Jonas Vabalas was born on 28 October 1908 in the village of Daugėlaičiai (modern-day Vilkaviškis District), then the Russian Empire. An active sportsperson from his youth, he attended primary school in Kybartai, graduating from its commercial school after which he enrolled in the War School of Kaunas in 1927. A recipient of the 1928 Lithuanian Independence Medal, Vabalas graduated in 1930 with the rank of lieutenant. He was appointed junior officer of the 9th company of the 5th Infantry Regiment. In 1931, as per a new ranking law, Vabalas was made junior lieutenant and transferred to the Press and Education Department of the army headquarters. After receiving a stipend from the Ministry of Defense in 1937, Vabalas studied military physical education sciences in Brussels.[2] While studying, he won first place in an officers' sabre fencing competition, and was awarded the medal of the Belgian army.[3] Vabalas was also an accomplished épée fencer. During the two years spent in Belgium, Vabalas won and brought a total of two cups and sixteen medals to Lithuania.[4]
After returning to Lithuania he lectured at the War School of Kaunas and was appointed to the army headquarters as a physical training instructor. At the Palace of Physical Education, Vabalas taught fencing.
After the Soviet occupation of Lithuanian in 1940, during the liquidation of the Lithuanian army, Vabalas was appointed as physical training instructor of the headquarters of the 179th Rifle Division of the 29th Rifle Territorial Corps of the Red Army. Vabalas shortly after became a staff member of the Lithuanian Activist Front, however in 1941 was arrested and deported to Siberia, being firstly imprisoned in an NKVD prison. In Nizhny Novhgorod (then known as Gorky), he was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. However, in 1942, Vabalas was transferred to the Butyrka prison in Moscow, where he spent three years. In 1945 he was again transferred to the Intalag, and later the Minlag forced labor camps. From 1950 onwards Vabalas resided in Krasnoyarsk Krai, being released only six years later and rehabilitated by the Supreme Court-martial in 1964. He lived in Vilnius working as a physical education trainer and chairman of the judges panel of the Lithuanian Athletics Federation.[3]
Vabalas died on 13 May 1978. He was buried in Sudervė Cemetery.[3]
References
- ^ Lapinas, Rolandas. "JONAS VABALAS". lse.lt. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Vabalas Jonas". etnografijavilkaviskis.lt. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Kapitonas Jonas Vabalas (1908 – 1978)". kariuomeneskurejai.lt. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ Karys-Kareckas, Jonas (1937). "Mūsų kariai gražiai pasirodo užsienyje". Karys (34): 950.
- ^ Steponavičius, Andriejus. "fechtavimas". vle.lt. Retrieved 26 June 2024.