Jim Szynkiewicz was born in Czechoslovakia and witnessed first hand the brutal reality of WWII when Nazi Germany occupied his homeland. After the war Szynkiewicz lived for a decade in Egypt before emigrating to the United States and settling in Waterbury, CT. Jim worked in manufacturing for 40 years before retiring in the 1980s. Jim is a community activist in Waterbury and has written a column in the Observer for the past 15 years. In addition to writing about local politics and manufacturing, Jim has often written highly detailed columns about the complexity of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.