He was born on 21st December 1918 at Ratulow near Nowy Targ and before the war he did parachute and glider training. He was captured by the Russians at Chelma but escaped and was captured by the Ukrainian Militia but escaped again. He was the captured by the Germans but released after two days.
In December 1939 he fled to France via Slovakia and Hungary where he was interned but escaped again finally getting to Marseilles via Jugoslavia. He then went to Cherbourg via Paris and took ship to Southampton. He worked as a mechanic aon Hurricanes and Spitfires then retrained as a navigator but specializing in radar. He trained at RAF Blackpool and at RAF Silloth before being posted to Coastal Command at RAF Benbecula on 6th October 1944. He and his crew flew 14 missions before the war ended; the first was on Christmas Eve 1944 when one of their engines caught fire and was extinguished by a steep dive. On another occasion they were out of fuel and landed with a full load of bombs, much to the consternation of the ground crews! He survived the war and returned to Poland. He won the Silver Cross of Merit with Swords. He was still alive in August 2004.
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