He was a commanding officer in World War II and Korea, a military advisor to five United States presidents and a negotiator on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

[1] His father, Gracyan Jan "John" Rowny, who worked as a carpenter and as a contractor,[2] emigrated in 1912 at age 19 from the village of Nagoszewo in the Mazovia region of eastern Poland.

Rowny air dropped a bridge to cross a chasm permitting the rescue of the surrounded Marines and Army troops at the Chosin Reservoir.

He was in charge of the evacuation of United States troops which rescued one hundred thousand North Koreans who wished to join South Korea.

In 1971 Rowny was appointed the US representative to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and held this post under three presidents: Nixon, Ford and Carter.

[7] In June, 1979 he retired from the Army in protest over President Carter's signing of the SALT II Treaty which he believed would undermine United States security.

He also began advising the Administration and Congress on National Security matters and combating terrorism which he continued to do until his death in late 2017.

In 2003, Ambassador Rowny became the Vice President of the American Polish Advisory Council (APAC) an organization which promotes Polonia's Agenda and encourages them to vote and become government officials.

In October 2013, Rowny's autobiography Smokey Joe and the General was released and among the achievements cited in it that he designed and dropped the bridge to get soldiers and Marines out of Chosin Reservoir.