Kazimierz Chartanowicz was born on July 30, 1922, in Baranowicze, near Grodno. As a 17-year-old boy, he was deported to a gulag by the Soviets in 1939. After an amnesty in late 1941 he joined the Polish army in the USSR, first in the 4th Tank Battalion and later in the anti-tank artillery. In 1943, he volunteered as a paratrooper and received badge No. 3519.

On September 18, 1944, he landed with glider No. 890 near Wolfheze as part of the deployment for Operation Market Garden. His unit first took up position with their anti-tank gun at the British headquarters in Hartenstein and then moved to the southern edge of the perimeter in Oosterbeek, near the Old Church and the house of Kate ter Horst. He was killed by a mortar shrapnel fragment that struck his face and pierced his helmet. Probably buried on September 22 near Kerkpad 2, behind Ter Horst's garden.

After the field graves were cleared following the war, Chartanowicz was listed as ‘without a known grave’ for more than 82 years, despite British reports from 1945 regarding his field grave. Mroz’s research points with almost 100% certainty to nameless grave 25.B.17 at the Airborne War Cemetery in Oosterbeek, next to his comrade Józef Skaczka.

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