[2] Zdzisław Peszkowski was born in 1918 in Sanok (Ukrainian: Сянiк; Syanik; Yiddish: Sonik), in Galicia before the dissolution of Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Peszkowski was a Sergeant, leading a platoon of the 20th Uhlan Regiment of King Jan III Sobieski (Polish: 20 Pułk Ułanów), during the Invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany.

In October 1939, Peszkowski was transported from Poland into the Soviet Union to a POW camp, established in the Optina Monastery in Kozelsk (Russian: Козе́льск) for Polish prisoners taken captive by the Red Army.

In the second part of 1942, the formation was transferred through the Persian Corridor to the British Middle East Command as a military occupation force after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.

He called for forgiveness for those who killed Polish army officers during a speech at Warsaw's Unknown Soldiers' Grave in 1995.