Sobanski was born on 29-Jul-19 while his mother was visiting her sister on holiday from Poland. Shortly after Mike was born he and his mother returned to Poland, where Mike received his education.
He was a university student when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. He attempted to join the Polish Air Force, but was told there was no time for training. He then became an infantryman and headed towards the front on a troop train. The train was bombed, and Mike was pinned in the wreckage suffering broken ribs. He was extricated and put on another train for transport to a hospital. He lay in a filthy boxcar for five days, and then waited for a further two days for treatment at an old monastery which was converted into a hospital. Finally they put a cast on him, but the Germans were advancing and Mike and others tried to escape but were captured and moved to a hospital in an old Russian fort.
Mike, believed to be immobile, was left unguarded. At night he left the hospital, waded through its moat, and hitch-hiked and walked 200 miles to Warsaw, where he found his home in ruins and the city occupied by the Nazis. He found his father, now suffering from total depression because of his country's defeat.
By means of his American citizenship Mike obtained a visa and was permitted to leave. He eventually made his way to the European coast and took a berth as a seaman aboard an Italian ship. The ship made its way to the U.S., and when it docked in Baltimore, Mike jumped ship and made his way to New York City, where he looked up his relatives. They introduced him to a family friend who was a recruiter for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). He arranged for Mike to join and be accepted in the RCAF as a pilot trainee.
He soon washed out of the programme because of his inability to speak English. He was later reinstated while continuing to learn English. He finally earned his wings in October 1941. He boarded a ship on 3 November and headed for Scotland. He was trained as a fighter pilot in Miles Masters and Hurricanes. He then joined No. 416 Squadron, RCAF. Mike got to fly Spitfires on convoy patrol, which he found very boring. On 22 September 1942 he was discharged from the RAF and posted to No. 133 Eagle Squadron as a Second Lieutenant, and on the 29th he was transferred to the 4th fighter Group, 334th Squadron.
Mike found the 4th to be what he wanted. He had desired the opportunity to fight and kill Germans. He had a particular driving hatred because of what they had done to him, to his home, and to his Poland.
In addition to Mike's zeal for destruction of the Nazis he found time to keep a diary, written in Polish, and a log book with very comprehensive records and notes, and was able to maintain a fair amount of social life. Both Polish and English women found him to be attractive and desirable. He also did many precise drawings and cartoons of various facets of his training. He was very proud of the Polish soldiers he met in England and enjoyed their company. They tried to get him to join a Polish squadron, but he thought of himself as an American and expected to go there to live after the war.
Unfortunately he never got to return to the States, having been shot down and killed on D-Day. He was leading a section of four Mustangs strafing a truck convoy near Rouen when they were attacked by over fifteen Me-109s and Fw-190s. All four of his section were shot down and killed.
Mike was credited with destroying six enemy aircraft, and had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with three Oak Leaf Cluster and the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.
Although he was American by birth, he is considered to be a Polish hero for his contributions to the war effort in the service of Poland and in the service of the United States. His American citizenship allowed him the honour, which he would have desired, of being buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupre, Belgium.