KAZIMIERZ PAKULA

 

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Kazimierz Pakula at the age of 96 on Thursday 31st March 2016.  He was born in February 1920 at Kamionna near Miedzychod, Poland - just five miles from the German border.

 

He fought in the September Campaign after which he was captured by the Russians but escaped and made his way to France via Hungary, Jugoslavia and Italy.  When France capitulated, he escaped to Britain where he eventually trained as a navigator and flew 50 missions with 304 Squadron.  He was awarded the Cross of Valour four times.

 

After the war, he attended the London School of Economics but then joined the Royal Air Force, serving in Africa, Aden (now Yemen) and Borneo until 1965.

 

He became a lecturer in Law and Economics until he was 70 years old.

 

RIP Kazimierz - you have earned it, along with the respect of all who knew you, served with you or had the privilege of researching your story.

KAZIMIERZ PAKULA - THE WHOLE STORY

PAKULA F/Sgt Kazimierz P-783110 (P-2918 on receipt of commission)

He was born in February 1920 at Kamionna near Miedzychod, Poland – just five miles from the German border. In the summer of 1938 he attended a Gliding School in East Poland and was accepted into the Officer Cadet Scool at Deblin to start in October 1939. In the summer of 1939 he was at an Air Force base near Lodz and qualified as a pilot on a course that was accelerated due to the imminence of war. In August 1939 he was recalled to join the 3rd Air Regiment at Lawice near Poznan but was bombed out and had to move on.

On 7th September 1939, he was en route for Deblin but that base was also bombed out and then he was put on a train heading for Romania. On 17th September he was captured by the Russians at Horodenka and locked in a school for four or five days without food. He was then put on a cattle truck and taken to Russia where he was held in a huge cowshed which was used as a holding camp. He was fed only bread and thin barley soup. When they were being move to the railway station, he escaped by jumping into a ditch with a few others. Then they walked to the nearest town where they bought food and hitched a lift on a Russian convoy which was heading towards Lwow in Poland.

They were dropped off a few miles from the city and walked the rest of the way. Once there he was fed bread and cabbage soup by the Citizens Committee and he enrolled at the University where he was given students credentials. A member of the University staff put him in touch with the Underground and he was given winter clothes and money. He was told to travel alone to Drohobycz where he was picked up by the Underground and moved from house to house, sleeping by day and travelling by night until he crossed into Hungary on the night of 5/6 January 1940.

He was arrested and taken by sledge to a Polish refugee camp near Lake Balaton and was then placed with a farmer in Szabedhidweg. As an illegal immigrant, he decided to make his way to France; he went to the Polish Consulate in Budapest where he arranged for a passport and a ticket to travel as a student. He travelled via Zagreb (Jugoslavia), Milan and Modena (Italy) and into France at Sept-Fonds, near Marseilles, arriving on 22nd February 1940. He was taken to the Polish Air Force camp at Lyons Foire where he was told he would train as an army despatch rider not a pilot.

By June he had no idea of what was happening at Dunkirk but was sent to Granville in Normandy to report to the Infantry. When they found out about the fall of France his party asked the local Mayor to supply them with buses to take them to La Rochelle. They travelled via Orleans where the locals were celebrating the end of the war; they arrived at La Rochelle to find that their ship had been sunk. However, they got on board the SS Alderpool, a Scottish collier, and sailed on 19th June, arriving in Plymouth on 22nd June 1940.

On arrival in England he was fed by the WRVS (Womens Royal Voluntary Service) and escorted onto a train by the Police. His initial destination was Glasgow, a gathering point for Polish refugees, after that he was sent to RAF West Kirby, a satellite of RAF Blackpool, and then on to the Polish Depot at RAF Blackpool, arriving there on 2nd July 1940.

His welcome to England was a gift of ten shillings (50 pence) from King George VI which he spent on an English dictionary, a day at the Pleasure Beach (a 1940’s fore runner of a theme park) and he saved a little. To put this in perspective, that amount today would buy you two cigarettes and wouldn’t even get you a can of Coke.

He was accommodated in a boarding house in this resort city and immediately set about learning English before his training began in earnest; he was helped by the officer in charge of the RAF reading room. He did so well that this officer recommended him as an interpreter and, after only nine months, he was offered this job with the rank of acting Sergeant with 306 Squadron at RAF Turnhill in Cheshire. However, they had been transferred to RAF Northolt in Middlesex and he was eventually posted (spring 1941) to RAF Padgate at Warrington, Cheshire. This was a receiving camp where airmen were assessed for future training. He was there as an interpreter for six months before being posted to RAF Leuchars near St Andrews, Fife, Scotland for ground crew training with the rank of AC2.

A year later, in spring 1942 he was sent to RAF Hucknall in Nottinghamshire where he had to qualify on Tiger Moths with only 12 hours flying time. However, operational needs changed and although he had qualified as a pilot, he had to retrain as a navigator, which he did at the Navigator School in Eastbourne, Sussex, finishing off at RAF Jurby on the Isle of Man in the autumn of 1942 before being posted to Coastal Command and further operational training with 1OTU at RAF Silloth, Cumberland (now Cumbria). Finally, he became part of an aircrew and in the summer of 1943 they were posted to 304 Squadron at RAF Davidstow Moor in Cornwall. During his service, he was awarded the Cross of Valour on four occasions. He was part of the regular crew of Wing Commander Jozef Werakso and, on the night of 3/4 March 1944, they attacked a surfacing U-boat which immediately dived. The British Admiralty claimed the boat was sunk but no confirmation was found in records after the war. A week later they sighted another U-boat but did not attack it.

He completed 50 operational missions before being selected for the Officer Training School at North Berwick in East Lothian, Scotland where he received his commission in December 1944.

After the war he attended the London School of Economics and then rejoined the RAF, serving in Africa, Aden (now Yemen) and Borneo. He left the RAF in 1965 and became a lecturer in Law and Economics until his retirement, although he continued part time until he was 70. In his retirement he became a keen and successful gardener, winning many prizes.

At the time of writing (October 2010) he is a sprightly 90 year old and lives with his family in Hampshire. He has visited Poland on many occasions since leaving the RAF.

KAZIMIERZ PAKULA'S ESCAPE ROUTE

He was born in February 1920 in Kamionna, near Miedzychod, Poland, just 5 miles from the German border. At age 8 he saw his first aeroplane and set his course to be a pilot. He graduated from high school in May 1939 and was passed as medically fit for the Air Force.

In the July and August 1938, he attended a Gliding School in East Poland and qualified as a glider pilot which meant he was accepted into the Officer Cadet School at Deblin on the course starting in October 1939. Amazingly, his father had to sign to say that he would pay for any damage caused if he crashed an aeroplane!

He spent the summer at an Air Force base near Lodz where his course was accelerated due to the imminence of war and he qualified as a pilot on the RWD8 trainer. He then went home on two weeks leave but on 28th August 1939 he received a telegram recalling him to the Polish Air Force base at Lawice near Poznan to join the 3rd Air Regiment.

On 1st September 1939 he was sitting outside when six aircraft appeared and started to bomb the barracks and returned later to bomb it again. With a few others, he raided the cookhouse for cold snacks which he survived on for the next few days whilst he travelled to Central Poland.

On 7th September 1939 he was near Warsaw and heading towards Deblin but was diverted as it had also been bombed. For a while he was accommodated at the deserted married quarters and there he had a narrow escape when a bomb fell nearby but failed to explode. Others were injured in the raid but there were no emergency services to help them. After this he was put on a train heading towards the Carpathian Mountains then on towards Romania. On 17th September he slept in a barn in a village near Horodenka and it was here that he was captured by Russian tanks and infantry. They were marched at bayonet point to a school where they were locked in, without food, for four or five days.

They were then piled into cattle trucks and driven east to a huge old cowshed which was in use as a holding camp and was across the Russian border. After a couple of days they were given bread and thin barley soup from a field kitchen. When they were taken to the train to be moved, he worked his way to the back of the column and escaped by jumping into a ditch with a few others. They made their way to the nearest town where they bought food and, cheekily, thumbed a lift from the last lorry in a Russian convoy; this was a good move as it was heading west towards Lwow in Poland. They were dropped off a few miles short of the city and walked the rest of the way.

The Citizens Committee fed them bread and cabbage soup and accommodated them in a dance hall. He enrolled at the University and enrolled where he was given a student’s identity papers. He tried unsuccessfully to get a grant to live on but a Polish secretary told him she could put him in touch with the Underground and arranged for him to be fed three times a week at the hospital kitchen.

In October he was contacted by the Underground and given new winter clothes. Eventually he was given money and told to go to the south and to take a train alone to Drohobbycz and to talk to nobody. On arrival he was to turn left out of the station; he was picked up and moved house to house, sleeping by day and moving by night until he crossed into Hungary on the night of 5/6 January 1940.

He was arrested and taken by sledge to a Polish refugee camp near Lake Balaton and was then placed with a farmer in Szabedhidweg. He decided to make his way to France and was stopped by an unfriendly ticket inspector but then helped by the stationmaster to get a train to Budapest. There he went to the Polish Consul where he arranged a passport and a ticket to travel to France as a student. He went via Zagreb (Jugoslavia), Milan and Modena (Italy) and into France at Sept-Fonds, near Marseilles, arriving on 22nd February 1940.

He was taken to the Polish Air Force camp at Lyons Foire where he was told he would train as an army despatch rider not a pilot. By June he had no idea of what was happening at Dunkirk but was sent to Granville in Normandy to report to the Infantry. When they found out about the fall of France his party asked the local Mayor to supply them with buses to take them to La Rochelle. They travelled via Orleans where the locals were celebrating the end of the war; they arrived at La Rochelle to find that their ship had been sunk. However, they got on board the SS Adverpool, a Scottish Collier, and sailed on 19th June, arriving in Plymouth on 22nd June 1940.

Photographs courtesy of Kazimierz and Nicholas Pakula