MIECZYSLAW BOREK

He survived the war and made the transition to Transport Command (still with 304 Squadron) where their new function was transporting food and medical supplies to Greece and Jugoslavia.  Whilst doing this  he was in an accident on a routine training flight.  On 18^th January 1946 the Vickers Warwick in which he was flying caught fire on  landing at RAF Chedburgh, Sussex.

The pilot, W/O Bojarczuk, was killed but W/O Borek and W/O Zurek survived.  Mieczyslaw was pulled from the burning aircraft with his clothes on fire.  He suffered a badly broken right leg and the tendons in his right ankle were severed.  He was sent to a convalescent unit at RAF Colleton Cross in Devon.  He remained there until his discharge from the Air Force on 11^th April 1947 after which he became part of the Polish Resettlement Corps.

He married an English girl in 1952 and raised a family over the coming years.  In 1955 he moved to Bristol where he trained as an aircraft engineer.  In the mid 1970s he qualified as a teacher and followed that profession until he retired.  Subsequently he did voluntary work as an  interpreter for the United Nations in Bristol.  He was one of those presented with Maundy Money by the Queen at a ceremony in Bristol Cathedral.  He was known to be living in Cadbury Heath, Bristol in 2009

Photograph courtesy of Mike Borek