ALEKSANDER ZEJDLER

 

 

He was born on 25^th February 1907, one of five children of Stanislaw and Bronislawa Zejdler and between 1916-1922 he attended the Stanislaus Jachowicza school in Plock.  Due to the unfortunate death of his father, he was obliged to leave school in October 1922 and take a job to help his mother maintain the family.  However, he still had to do his military service and he was conscripted into the Air Force, starting on 1st October 1925 in the 1st Aviation Regiment.  He graduated from the NCO School in June 1926 and joined his regiment.  On completion of his National Service, he remained in the Air Force and moved on to a course in bombing and gunnery which he completed at Grudziadz in January 1929.

His first experience in flying came on a French Breguet XIX and, over the next 10 years he built up an impressive number of hours fling in a wide range of aircraft, surviving a crash, just outside of Okecie airport, in which his aircraft was a total write-off.  On May 31, 1936, he married Natalia Krzesiak and they had three children, the last of which was born in May 1939.

During the 17 day war in Poland, he served with 211 Eskadra and was transferred to the air base at Ulez and on the outbreak of war, three days later, he was sent to Kuciny Alexandrov as part of the crew of a PZL P37B bomber.

Roman Bonkowski, the pilot of the PZL P37B “Moose” 72.18 described a flight which took place on 4^th September 1939.  He said that they set off to attack a German armoured column close to the airport at Kuciny Alexandrov near Lodz.  Their plane was attacked by three German fighters and was also hit by anti-aircraft fire from the ground.  In flames, they crash landed in a field near Rychlocice after suffering severe damage from German flak and gunfire from a Messerschmidt Bf109D, most probably from 1 Staffel I/ZG2.  German records do not claim that his plane was shot down, but equally they do not acknowledge the Me109Bf claimed by the pilot on behalf of Zejdler. 

Roman Bonkowski (the pilot) stated that Aleksander Zejdler showed superhuman courage in strafing the German armoured columns from only 50-100 feet and also for bringing down this German fighter.  Injuries incurred during this action (bullet wounds in the knee and lower leg) are likely to be the reason why he was no longer fit to fly and had to take up a ground crew position.  They destroyed secret and vital parts of the already burning aircraft and set off on foot for Skierniewice.

On 17th September he flew to Romania where he was disarmed and theoretically interned and presumably acquired a false identity, money and travel documents from the diplomatic mission in Bucarest.  Eight days later he arrived in Constanta  and a couple of weeks later in Balcic (now in Bulgaria).  He waited there for a few days before boarding a Greek vessel that took him to Beirut via the Levant (Syria), Istanbul and Cyprus.  From Beirut he sailed on the French ship Ville de Strasbourg via Malta, Tunis and Sardinia to Marseilles.  He was billeted at Istres about 40 miles north west of Marseilles.  He was clearly unhappy there and volunteered to come to England, arriving here, via Paris and Cherbourg, in mid-December 1939.

He formally enlisted in the Royal Air Force on 8th February 1940 at RAF Eastchurch in Kent.  Due to his wounds he was no longer fit to fly and joined the ground training staff as a mechanic.  Later he was transferred to the Polish Depot at Blackpool.  In 1943 he was transferred to 304 Squadron at RAF Docking in Norfolk until September 1944 when he transferred to 25 (Polish) Elementary Flying Training School at RAF Hucknall in Nottinghamshire.  He is believed to have also served in 307 Squadron at some point.  He survived the war and returned to Poland in October 1946.

He worked in a clerical capacity but retrained and achieved managerial status in a variety of places, ending up as Head of Supply in a brewery.   He died in Plock on 5^th December 1977 and is buried in the communal cemetery there.

During the course of his military career he was awarded the Polish Air Medal and several British campaign medals.

Photo courtesy of Wojciech Zmyslony

STANISLAW JERZY OLEJNIK

During the September Campaign he served with 1st Air Regiment and, on 19th September 1939, he was evacuated to Hungary and interned in the camp at Eger which became a satellite concentration camp for Jews later in the war. Security was not tight and he escaped and made his way to France, in the company of a group of his colleagues. Later, he escaped from France and arrived at RAF Blackpool, the main Polish Depot where he trained as a meteorologist before being posted to 304 Squadron.


Like most Poles he wanted to fight and he successfully applied to become aircrew as a wireless operator/air gunner. For a while he remained with them on anti-submarine warfare duties and was awarded the Cross of Valour for his skill and courage in fighting off an attack by a German fighter.


In May 1944 he transferred to 1586 Special Duties Flight, based at Campo Casale, Brindisi, Italy and from here, he flew many missions to Albania, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Jugoslavia and Poland. There is a vague report that he was seriously injured in a forced landing in December 1944 and remained in a Polish field hospital in Italy, recuperating from his injuries until May 1945. I have not been able to confirm this – but he was definitely not on board the only aircraft that 301 Squadron (successors to 1586 Flight) lost in that month. However, the description I have seen says it was a forced landing and mentions no fatalities, nor does it claim the aircraft was written off. If this is true, the aircraft – most probably a Halifax – would not be listed as a loss.


On his return to England, he enrolled on a one year meteorology course, which he completed in August 1946. Two months later, he returned to Krakow in Poland and took a job as a weather forecaster for the Polish airline LOT. In 1949 he went to work for PIHM, the state meteorology department, and naturally applied his skills to aviation weather forecasting. He stayed there until 1959 when he left to become manager of the airport at Nowy Targ. From 1969 until 1989 he was employed by LOT as their manager in Krakow for the first four years and then as their manager in Milan, Italy.


He died on 12th January 2005 and was given full military honours at his funeral in the Rakowicki Cemetery in Krakow.


FOOTNOTE:


Fresh information from two colleagues tells me that 301 Squadron still had, and used, serviceable Liberators after the official changeover date. In addition, he and his regular crew were on board the following flights in the apparent time period. Even if he had been injured in the first, he was flying again after about two weeks on the second. This makes me doubt that any serious injury occurred – even if he received hospital treatment.


1944 December 15th - Halifax II BB440


After only 17 minutes in the air, the starboard inner engine suffered a drop in pressure and the mission was abandoned; there were no injuries. The 12 containers were jettisoned in the base dropping zone and the engine was out, and caught fire, on landing but the aircraft landed safely, fifty five minutes after take-off.


1945 February 1st/2nd - Halifax V LL465


This was another unsuccessful mission; the aircraft developed engine trouble and the mission was terminated - 15 containers and 18 packages, a total net weight of 4,971 pounds were jettisoned. The port outer engine caught fire but was extinguished by feathering and the aircraft landed safely with no injuries reported.

STANISLAW ZBIGNIEW FRANCZAK

He was born on 10th January 1920 in Luborzycy near Krakow and in 1939 he graduated from the University in Vilnius (now Lithuania). He was interested in aviation from an early age and was a member of the Aero Club in Vilnius. Between 1937 and 1939 he participated in gliding courses at the Gliding School in Ustjanowej and may have also flown powered aircraft there.

In the course of time, he met up with his brothers Henryk and Jozef and they remained in Vilnius for a couple of months, leading a more or less normal life under the Russians and in spite of a curfew. After investigation they found that Polish airmen were being evacuated from Kaunas in Lithuania so they went there, in December 1939, and easily acquired false papers. All three of them obtained evacuation papers to go to Sweden. The escape plan was to take a train to Latvia and then fly to Sweden.

On the day they were due to go, the commander refused to allow three brothers to travel on the same aircraft and Jozef was forced to wait for the next plane. German threats to shoot down neutral Swedish planes carrying Polish airmen ensured that there was no next plane. The two brothers spent Christmas Eve in Stockholm and were then flown to London and on to France where they joined the Polish Air Force at Lyon-Bron.

After the fall of France, he managed to escape to Britain, with his brother Henryk, where he completed his training and was posted to 304 Squadron.

He later volunteered for 1586 Flight (Special Duties) and was posted to RAF Brindisi in Italy. From there he flew several missions to Poland in support of the Armia Krajowa and was piloting Liberator EW278 (G-RU)  on 10th September 1944 when it was shot down by German fighters over Senta, Jugoslavia. He, and two of his crew, were killed and are buried in the military cemetery in Belgrade. Five of the twenty aircraft on that mission were shot down that night.

During the course of his military career, he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari and the Cross of Valour (twice)
.

Photograph courtesy of Henryk Franczak’s niece, Helena

ERNEST FAJA

This is virtually all I knew about Sgt Ernest Faja

FAJA Sgt Ernest P-706799



He was a pilot and was born on 24th December 1920. He survived the war and returned to Poland in 1946. He is known to have served for much of the war in 304 Squadron and spent the latter part of his service with 16 SFTS at RAF Newton during which time he was married to Maria Machowska.

The following came from his son, Kazimierz:

In your mail you ask about some details from his life. I have some of them but not much:



He was born on 24th December in 1920 in Cieszyn, Poland. He attended to school of aviation in Dęblinek, Poland, but I don’t know which years he spent in army. After war (in 1946) he married Maria Machowska. She also was in army but as a medical staff (volunteer). Also in England was born their first son - my brother - Zbyszek. In the same year they came back to Poland, where me and my sister was born. After that Ernest worked in coalmine as a planner and manager. He died on 8th December in 1990 in mining hospital in Bytom because of health problems.

Can anyone help with information on Ernest Faja, or do you recognise anyone in these pictures?

                                         Pre-war picture of Ernest in Poland
 

Ernest Faja and fellow airmen - location and date unknown - probably before he came to England as there is no sign of RAF insignia or POLAND shoulder flash
 

Wedding day photograph, 30th September 1945 at Church of the Holy Cross, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire

If anyone can help, please contact me on nevillebougourd@gmail.com or leave a message here, but please also include a return email address which I will edit out before posting your response.

Photos courtesy of Kazimierz Faja 

FURTHER POLISH AIRMEN WITHOUT INFORMATION

The following men were all members of 304 Squadron at one time or another.  I have some wartime information on a few of them but virtually nothing on the majority.  If you can help, please contact me on
nevillebougourd@gmail.com

PAJKO F/Lt Czeslaw P-1220

PALCZYNSKI Cpl Jozef P-780284
PALEWICZ Sgt Jan P-782080
PANKOWSKI L/Ac Mieczyslaw
PANOWICZ L/Ac Wladyslaw P-783924
PAPESZ Sgt Wladyslaw
PAROBEK L/Ac Roman P-781972
PASIEKA Sgt Karol Stefan P-783096
PASIK Sgt Mieczyslaw P-792854
PASTWA Sgt Witold P-784869
PASYK Sgt Jan Michal P-794025
PASZEK L/Ac Stanislaw P-708460
PASZKIEWICZ F/Sgt Konrad Jozef P-783264
PASZKIEWICZ F/Lt Witold
PATEK Sgt Boleslaw Kazimierz P-792360
PATLEWICZ Sgt Wladyslaw
PATYK Sgt Edward P-704943
PAWLAK Sgt Jan P-2919
PAWLOWSKI W/O Ignacy P-705717
PAWLOWSKI L/Ac Piotr P-794287
PAWLOWSKI L/Ac Wincenty P-793965
PAWLOWSKI L/Ac Wladyslaw P-783297
PAWLUCZYK Sgt Mikolaj P-784106
PEKACKI Sgt Edmund Piotr P-705651
PELC W/O Edward P-794117
PELZ Cpl Franciszek P-784466
PERLOWSKI Sgt Zbigniew
PESKI F/O E P-782677
PEZCO F/O Stanislaw P-2446
PIASECKI Sgt Stanislaw Jan P-781301
PIATKOWSKI F/Lt Stanislaw P-0575
PIECHNA Sgt Kazimierz P-794042
PIECHOCKI F/Sgt Jan Antoni P-780341
PIECHOWIAK Sgt Zygmunt Stanislaw P-792815
PIECZYNSKI F/Sgt Zdzislaw Stanislaw P780342
PIEKARSKI Sgt Marian P-784131
PIEKLO Sgt Edward Jerzy P-709546
PIENIAZEK W/O Adam Jan P-780699
PIERZCHALO-PIASECKI Ac1 Olgierd Jerzy P-707373
PIETKIEWICZ Sgt Jozef P-794813
PIETLUCH L/Ac Bronislaw P-707629
PIETRASIEWICZ W/O Zygmunt P-780910
PIETRASZKIEWICZ Sgt Mikolaj P-704138
PIETRASZKO F/Sgt Witold P-706674
PIETRUSZEWSKI Sgt Wieslaw Leszek P-793339
PIETRYSZAK Sgt Jozef
PIETRZAK Sgt Wincenty P-782657
PIJANOWSKI F/O Waclaw Jan P-0051
PILAT Sgt Stefan P-794957
PILNIAK Sq/Ldr Boguslaw P-1249
PINIEWSKI Sgt Czeslaw
PIOTROWICZ W/O Henryk P-705035
PIOTROWSKI W/Cdr Witold Jacek
PIOTROWSKI F/Lt Wladyslaw P-0690
PISKORSKI Sgt Wladyslaw
PISKORZ Sgt Jozef P-792816
PIWKO L/Ac Julian P-781503
PIWOWAR W/O Wiktor P-792256
PIWOWAREK F/Lt
PIWOWARSKI W/O Zdzislaw P-704452
PLACEK Cpl Jozef P-782866
PLACHCINSKI F/Lt Stanislaw P-0309
PLESZYNSKI Cpl Konstanty P-782161
PLIS Sgt Henryk P-782026
PLONCZYNSKI F/Lt Marian Stanislaw P-1993
PNIEWSKI L/Ac Jan P-793629
PODKOWSKI L/Ac
PODSTOLSKI Ac2 Jerzy P-706818
PODZIEMSKI Sgt J P71767
POGODA F/Sgt Stefan P-792639
POKOJ F/Lt Wilhelm Jozef P-2151
POKRZYWA Sgt Rajmund Antoni P-782119
POLAK L/Ac Czeslaw P-707067
POLAKOWSKI Sgt Antoni P-782916
POLANIN Sgt Karol Jan P-2673
POLESINSKI Sgt Edward P-792693
POLOK Cpl Florian P-780609
POLONIECKI F/Lt Bernard P-1785
POREBSKI F/O Boleslaw P-0828
POSTOL Sgt Leonard Gabriel P-780954
POTASINSKI Sgt Roman P-703786
POTYSZ L/Ac Jan P-708467
POZIOMKA Sq/Ldr
PRAZMOWSKI F/Lt Jan P-0785
PRESSER F/O Kurt Jozef P-2922
PRETKIEWICZ P/O Marian
PROECHNER L/Ac Jan P-708423
PROMINSKI F/Sgt Jozef P-780788
PRONASZKO W/Cdr Mieczyslaw
PRONASZKO F/O Mieczyslaw P-76640
PRUSSKI L/Ac Czeslaw P-780735
PRYLINSKI Sgt Zygmunt P-703221
PRZEPIORA Cpl Tadeusz P-780737
PRZYBUJEWSKI Cpl Teodor P-782114
PRZYBYLA L/Ac Pawel Piotr P-706393
PRZYBYLOWICZ L/Ac Kazimierz P-704517
PRZYBYLSKI Sgt Stanislaw P-780198
PRYZGODA Cpl Piotr P-794094
PUCHALA Sgt Roman P-793808
PUCHEK Sgt Alojzy P-794873
PUCHLIK Sgt Edmund M P-704455
PUZILEWICZ L/Ac Jan P-704321
PYKA Sgt Zygmunt Marian P-704226
PYSZNY Sgt Jozef P-704630

UPDATE ON JAN BIALY

My thanks to Franek Grabowski for his very useful criticism of my article on Jan Bialy - and for the additional information he supplied which  helped me to update the article.  Rather than repeat the item, I have amended the original - which was first posted on 4th February 2010 - to include his time with the Polish Special Operations who trained 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight - nicknamed RAFwaffe - in maintaining captured German aircraft for evaluation, familiarisation and recognition by all branches of the Allied Air Forces.  To find out more about 1426 Flight just Google RAFwaffe or 1426 Flight.

HIERONYM STAWICKI

He was born on 25th September 1914 at Szamotuly near Poznan. In 1935 he was conscripted into the army and joined an aviation regiment and a year later he transferred to the Aviation Technical Training School in Bydgoszcz.

After his military service he worked in an engineering factory but at the end of August 1939 he received instructions to report to 6 Air Regiment in Lvov due to the imminence of war with Germany. His time there was very short following heavy German bombing of the city and air base and he was transferred to Siedlce in Eastern Poland, soon after transferring to 161 Squadron based in Lublin. On 18th September 1939 they all crossed into Romania at Sniatyn (now Ukraine) where they were interned by the authorities.

He survived the German bombing of the airport and escaped to Romania where he was interned but he escaped in January 1940 and reached the Polish Embassy where he was given money and false papers in the name of Jan Krzyszowski. He took a ship at Constanta to France via Athens (Greece), Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey), Malta and Salerno (Italy), arriving at Marseilles in early March 1940. He worked in Toulouse at the Dewoitine aircraft factory whilst awaiting military service then was taken to Port Vendres by train and on to Casablanca in Morocco on a French destroyer. From there he made his way to Gibraltar and took ship to Glasgow.

By early August 1940 he had gone through all the preliminary training and was assigned as a mechanic to the newly forming 304 Squadron at RAF Bramcote in Warwickshire. Around the end of January 1941 he was posted to 306 Squadron at RAF Northolt, Middlesex for about three years and then on to the No 16 Service Training Flying School at RAF Newton at Nottingham. In 1944 he applied for pilot training; he was accepted and started training on heavy four engine bombers. He was promoted to Sergeant and transferred to 300 Squadron where he made several bombing missions over Germany and many more humanitarian food drops to the Belgian and Dutch people.

He was demobilised in December 1947 and returned to his wife and children in Poland. He had two more children but his wife died in May 1952. He remarried in 1959 and they had another child. He died in Poznan on 3rd August 2001 and was buried in Junikowskim Cemetery.

FRANCISZEK KICINSKI



He was born on 29th January 1914, in Warsaw, the son of Stanislaw Kicinski and Stanislawa Domagalska. He was educated in Warsaw and trained as a hairdresser. In 1934 he joined the army and served in the Ostroleka horse artillery, where he completed his non-commissioned officer training. He later trained as a glider pilot at the military school at Ustianowa near the border with Ukraine. He transferred to the Air Force and trained as a pilot in Warsaw

At the end of 1938, he left the military and went to work as a clerk for the Warsaw public transport corporation but, when war was imminent, he was mobilised and rejoined the air force in Warsaw. Little is known of him after that except that he escaped to France through Romania, arriving in France on 22nd January 1940.

His route is not known, except that he arrived at Marseilles by sea, in a group of Polish pilots, on one of two voyages made by the French liner Explorateur Grandidier from Beirut to repatriate French soldiers from the Levant (now broken up into Palestine, Israel, Jordan,Syria and Lebanon). This vessel was later scuttled near Marseilles by the Germans. On making contact with the Polish authorities, he was posted to the aviation school at Lyon but did no training or fighting. On the capitulation of France, in June 1940, he went to England by sea but his route is unknown.

He was based in the cluster of RAF Stations around Blackpool. He spent over a year under training and learning English, he moved, on 1st September 1941 he went to RAF Leuchars at St Andrews, Fife in Scotland.

He learned to fly British aircraft on De Havilland Tiger Moths at 25 EFTS at RAF Hucknall and later on Airspeed Oxfords at 16 FTS at RAF Newton – both in Nottinghamshire. After finishing these courses, he qualified and was promoted to Sergeant. He was then, September 1941, posted to 3 Air Gunnery School at RAF Castle Kennedy in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Here, his tasks were flying the gunners under instruction and flying the aircraft which towed the targets. The aircraft he flew were Bristol Bolingbrokes and Blackburn Bothas.

On 15th July 1943, he was posted to 3 School of General Reconnaissance stationed at RAF Squires Gate (Blackpool). His main task was to learn to navigate over water for the duties that would be required by Coastal Command – seeking out U-boats and enemy surface vessels. He was then posted to 6 OTU at Silloth, Cumberland, for operational training. The purpose of this was to bond the crews of the U-boat hunters and their Wellington bombers.

On 29th February 1944 he joined 304 Squadron at RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon who were then dedicated to Anti-Submarine Warfare. His first operational flight was in March 1944 and he went on to fly several missions filling in for crew who were sick or on leave. At the beginning of August 1944 he was posted to 6 OTU at RAF Silloth, Cumberland, to form a team of his own for future missions. He returned to 304 Squadron, after the six week course, with his own regular crew – but by this time they had moved to RAF Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides.

Soon after the war ended, at the end of May 1945, he was posted to RAF North Weald, Essex with the rest of the squadron, which became part of Transport Command and later to RAF Chedburgh in Suffolk. Their task was to fly men and supplies between England, France, Italy and Greece. The aircraft they used were Wellingtons, Warwicks and Halifaxes – all ex bombers converted to cargo planes. He stayed with them until the squadron was disbanded in December 1946 and then transferred to the Polish Resettlement Corps to stay in uniform but also to prepare for life as a civilian in Britain. During his time with 304 Squadron, he won the Cross of Valour twice.

He stayed in Britain until 1957 when he moved his family to Melbourne, Australia. He became an artist and had several exhibitions there. He died there on 22nd January 1992; he was cremated at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery. He is recorded there as Frank Kicinski.

Photo courtesy of Wojciech Zmyslony

MORE MISSING INFORMATION ON POLISH AIRMEN

The following is yet another batch of missing airmen.  They are all on the tribute but mostly only names ranks and numbers.  I never give up hope that someone out there will give me the information to give these men their rightful place on the tribute - rather than just the basic details.

KACALSKI Sgt Jozef P-784152

KACZAN Sgt Wladyslaw P-704211
KACZKOWSKI F/Lt Adam P-1950
KACZMAREK L/Ac Stefan P-708704
KAFEL Ac2 Zdzislaw P-706640
KALECKI Cpl Zygmunt P-784412
KALINOWSKI W/O Franciszek P-704609
KALINOWSKI W/O Franciszek P-704609
KALODZIEJ Sgt P-781200
KAMINSKI L/Ac Bronislaw P-784623
KAMYSZEK Sgt Tadeusz P-783875
KANAS F/Sgt Mieczyslaw Tadeusz P-706498
KANIA L/Ac Medard P-704732
KANIEWSKI P/O
KAPECKI Cpl Julian P-703674
KARAMUCKI L/Ac Kazimierz P-793087
KARASINSKI Ac1 Henryk P-705512
KARCZ Sgt Stefan P-704480
KARCZEWSKI F/O Leszek Jerzy P-0336
KARDAS Sgt Marian P-781093
KARNACEWICZ F/O Wladyslaw P-27
KAROL F/Sgt Witold P-706489
KARPA L/Ac Jan P-782192
KARWOT L/Ac Alfred P-781077
KASPROWICZ W/O Waclaw P-781065
KASPRZAK L/Ac Ludwik P-706636
KASPRZYK F/Lt Alfred A P-1327
KASZKOWSKI P/O
KATAN F/O Karol P-2519
KAUCZ F/O Antoni P-0565
KAWA F/O Stanislaw
KAZIMIERCZAK L/Ac Zygmunt P-781034
KEGEL Sgt Leon
KEMPNY Cpl Rudolf P-704845
KEPKA F/Sgt Stanislaw P-783807
KESKA L/Ac Jozef P-794250
KESKA F/Lt Pawel P-1136
KIBORT L/Ac Tadeusz Jozef P-780839
KICINSKI Sgt Franciszek P-784754
KIELAN P/O Sylwan Jozef P-2148
KIELKUCKI L/Ac Henryk P- 792376
KIELPINSKI L/Ac Czeslaw P-780574
KIELTY Stanislaw
KIELTYKA Sgt Stanislaw P-784039
KIERZKOWSKI F/Lt Jozef P-0738
KIJOWSKI Cpl Stanislaw P-782105
KIRIJEWICZ L/Ac Mikolaj P-707739
KISZCZAK L/Ac Kazimierz P-792673
KLATT F/O Bronislaw P-0486
KLEIN L/Ac Henryk P-780576
KLEMBA L/Ac Piotr P-794408
KLIMIUK Sgt Ryszard P-780877
KLOS F/Sgt Andrzej Mieczyslaw P-782071
KLUCZYNSKI L/Ac Lucjan P-782382
KLUS Sgt Zenon P-792070
KNAPINSKI L/Ac Jan P-792380
KOBIERSKI L/Ac Wladyslaw P-784036
KOCYK W/O Boleslaw P-781329
KOCZAN L/Ac Piotr P-705469
KOLAGIEWICZ Sgt
KOLAKOWSKI P/O W
KOLANKO F/Lt Tadeusz Franciszek P-0966
KOLANO F/O Julian P-1831
KOLINSKI Sgt Stanislaw P-704004
KOLKOWSKI Sgt Antoni
KOLODZIEJ Sgt Wlodzimierz
KOLODZIEJ Sgt P781200
KOLODZIEJSKI F/Lt Tadeusz P-1248
KOLOSOWSKI W/O Czeslaw Tomasz P-705019
KOMLACZ F/O Jan P-0301
KOMOSA Sgt Stefan
KOMORNICKI F/Sgt Zbigniew Andrzej P-781043
KONARZEWSKI F/O Wladyslaw P-0769
KONCZEWSKI Sq/Ldr
KONDRAT Sgt Antoni P-794376
KONKIEL L/Ac Florian P-782099
KONSKI F/O Jan P-1832
KONSTRUKIEWICZ Sgt
KOPTA Sgt Kazimierz P-703004
KORNACKI L/Ac Piotr P-793995
KORYBUT-DASZKIEWICZ F/Lt Antoni P-1923
KORZENIEWSKI Cpl Franciszek P-782204
KOSIECKI L/Ac Jerzy P-708387
KOSSAKOWSKI F/O Waclaw P-0397
KOSTECKI F/Lt Marian P-1908
KOSTUCH F/O Marian Walenty P-0027
KOSTURKIEWICZ F/Sgt Antoni P793332
KOSTYRKA W/O Zdzislaw Eugeniusz P781595
KOT L/Ac Jan P-782072
KOTOWICZ L/Ac Tadeusz P-780471
KOTOWSKI L/Ac Aleksander P-707413
KOWALCZYK L/Ac Antoni P-780272
KOWALCZYK Sgt Kazimierz Ryszard P-703027
KOWALCZYK F/O Leon Wojciech P-2660
KOWALCZYK L/Ac Stefan P-708628
KOWALECKI L/Ac Alfons P-793308
KOWALEWICZ Sgt Pawel P-703968
KOWALEWICZ Sgt Zygmunt P-783173
KOWALEWSKI L/Ac Maksymilian Alojzy P-793047
KOWALSKI F/Lt Edward P-0131
KOWALSKI L/Ac Lucjan P-792616
KOWALSKI L/Ac Stanislaw P-793102
KOWALSKI F/Lt Stefan Jakub P-0129
KOWALSKI Sgt Stefan Ludwik P-703093
KOWALSKI W/O Tadeusz P-705017
KOWALSKI F/Sgt Zbigniew P-703217
KOZIEL Sgt Eugeniusz
KOZIEN L/Ac Stanislaw P-703150
KOZIOL L/Ac Stanislaw Ignacy P-782159
KOZLOWSKI Sgt S
KOZUBA-KOZUBSKI F/Lt Marian P-2418
KOZYRO L/Ac Zygmunt P-706403
KRAJEWSKI F/Lt Albin P-0296
KRAJEWSKI F/Lt Czeslaw P-0181
KRAJEWSKI L/Ac Kazimierz P-706396
KRAJEWSKI F/O Konstanty Jerzy P-2469
KRAMIN P/O Jan P-1604
KRAWCZYK F/O Stanislaw P-1347
KRAWIECKI Sgt Stanislaw P-781176
KREIZA L/Ac Edward Jozef P-780872
KREMPA P/O Ludwik P-1723
KRETOWICZ Sgt Lucjan P794930
KROKOWSKI Ac1 Stanislaw P-708581
KRYCZKOWSKI Cpl Wladyslaw P-794354
KRYDNER Sgt Oswald Waldemar P-782181
KRYSTECKI L/Ac Anatolius Roman
KRZECZEWSKI F/Sgt Eugeniusz Stanislaw P-781609
KRZEMPEK F/Sgt Wladyslaw P-781622
KRZEPISZ Sq/Ldr Zygmunt Edmund P-0396
KRZYSZCZUK F/O F
KRZYWKOWSKI Cpl Stefan P-782993
KRZYWON Sgt Tadeusz
KRZYZANOWSKI Ac1 Wladyslaw P-703188
KRZYZOSIAK F/Sgt Ludwik P-784030
KSZCZOT W/O Waclaw P-705704
KUBACIK Sgt Franciszek P-793053
KUBACKI L/Ac Tadeusz P-704396
KUBAS L/Ac Jozef P-782000
KUBICKI Cpl Feliks P-704844
KUBIT F/O Jan P-2889
KUC Sgt Henryk P-792037
KUCHAREK F/Sgt Henryk Bronislaw P-706422
KUCHARSKI Sgt Stefan (or F/O M? According to some reports)
KUFLIK Sgt Pawel Naftali Hirsz P-794712
KUJANA Sgt Antoni P-780833
KULAGIN Sgt Michal P-794933
KULAGOWSKI Sgt Andrzej Eugeniusz P-792582
KULCZEWSKI Sgt Marian P-783094
KULCZYCKI L/Ac Edward Leopold P-703880
KULCZYCKI Sgt Tadeusz Pawel P-780847
KULICKI P/O Jozef P-1960
KULIG L/Ac Jozef P-707269
KUNA L/Ac Jan Jozef P-782168
KUPSC L/Ac Jerzy P-705370
KUREK F/O Janusz Augustyn Henryk P-0035
KUREK Sgt Kazimierz Marian P-792635
KURNIK Sgt Jan Boleslaw P-783201
KUSZCZYNSKI F/O Bronislaw P-0009
KUTUZOW L/Ac Jozef P-792521
KUZIAN F/O Boleslaw P-0401
KUZMINSKI Cpl Telesfor Marek P-782206
KUZNIAR L/Ac Alfred P-707343
KUZNIAR L/Ac Stanislaw P-704518
KWAK Sq/Ldr Tadeusz Jan  P-0608
KWASNIEWICZ L/Ac Jozef P-704502
KWASNY L/Ac Jan Kanty P-781635
KWIATKOWSKI Sgt Stanislaw P-793733
KWIECIEN Sgt Andrzej P-782129
KWOKA Cpl Witold P-784475

BEZUSZKO JOHN WALTER

He was a pilot, born on 2nd October 1920 in a coal mining town near Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA. On graduating from high school he worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps at Quantico, Virginia in a quarry, mining stone for roads, dams and bridges in a National Park.

In August 1941 he went to Toronto, Canada and did his basic training in Owen Sound, Ontario before being sent to England via Liverpool in order to fulfil the desperate need for pilots and aircrew. After further training in England, he earned his pilot’s wings and was sent to the air gunnery school at RAF Tranwell near Morpeth, Newcastle upon Tyne where he flew target towing aircraft. He was later posted to 304 Squadron who were, at that time, in Coastal Command. His duties there were anti-submarine warfare, convoy protection and harassment of enemy shipping.

In May 1943, he was one of many Americans who were compelled to join the USAAF and was sent to Texas for training as a fighter pilot. He was posted back to Europe in January 1945 and flew Mustangs in the European Theatre until the end of hostilities. Towards the end of the war he flew ground support missions over Germany as part of the 48th Fighter Group; his aircraft was a Republic P47 Thunderbolt. In 1947, he returned to the United States.

After the war he was based at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona where he trained cadets to fly the modern fighters, later teaching combat tactics at Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert.

In 1950 he played an active role in the Korean War, volunteering to fly with the 49th Fighter group. He flew Lockheed F-80C Shooting Stars as ground support to the land forces. In that conflict he extended his tour of duty on three occasions. After the war ended he continued to fly fighters until 1957 – but even then he transferred to the Reserves at Long Beach, California, finally retiring in 1972.

In an illustrious career, he was decorated by the Polish Government in exile, the British, the French,

the South Koreans, the United Nations and both the US Army and the US Air Force.

After his military service he worked as a Technical Writer for McDonnell Douglas and the Rockwell Corporation, finally retiring at the age of 72. He died on 28th March 2000 at Long Beach, California, USA.

MARIAN BOGATEK

 
MARIAN BOGATEK

He was an electrician, son of Vojciech Bogatek and Aleksandra Modzielewska and was born on 2nd August 1906 in Warsaw. It was obvious that war was coming and, at the beginning of 1939, he was conscripted into the Air Force where he rose to the rank of sergeant and was involved in the September Campaign until Poland was overwhelmed by the combined might of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. He was captured by the Russians and was part of the mass deportation of Poles to Russia and described how he often had to sleep in the snow and had to get out of his frozen greatcoat in the mornings and physically remove it from the ground. He also describes how he was marched around the country escorted by Russian soldiers – which suggests that he was in enforced labour at the logging camps, one of the main uses of prisoners of war but, in reality, slave labour.

In June 1941, Germany turned on Russia and most of the Polish prisoners were released to join an army being raised by General Anders in the Middle East.  This mass release came under pressure from General Sikorski and Winston Churchill.

We can only speculate on his route but the main route out of the Soviet Union was via Kermine in Uzbekistan, boarding ship at Krasnovodsk (now Turkmenbashi) in Turkmenistan and crossing the Caspian sea to Pahlavi in Iran (now Bandar e Anzali). After many months of hard labour and living on a totally inadequate diet, he was in pretty poor condition. In his own words, his knees were bigger than his thighs and he could not believe that the emaciated body he saw in the mirror was his own. The gaunt looking face above says it all – suffering in capital letters. The above photograph was taken soon after his release by the Russians.

After a time spent recuperating from the illnesses that they all carried and getting used to proper food (many died from the sudden change to an over rich diet from starvation rations they had received in Russia), the men were taken overland to Palestine (now Israel) or to the Persian port of Bandar Shahpur (now Bandar Khomeini). The latter seems more likely in Marian’s case as there was a troopship service to the far east – possibly the SS City of Canterbury – which would take them to Bombay where they would tranship to another vessel, probably the SS Awatea which they would take via Cape Town, South Africa. The ship then routinely sailed far out into the Atlantic Ocean, up the West Coast of Ireland then around the north of Ulster to Glasgow.  The Awatea was capable of 23.5 knots and was considered fast enough to sail without a naval escort - it was one of the fastest civilian ships afloat at the time.

This is more than just speculation as Marian’s widow remembers that he came on a New Zealand troopship (of which there were not many –the New Zealand Navy was only formed in 1941) and the SS Awatea was a New Zealand ship.  This and the other vessels and the ports mentioned were all used in the early movement of Polish airmen to Britain from the Middle East.  Like all the others, at Glasgow he would be fed, given a gift of ten shillings (50p) from the King, and then put on a train to Blackpool which was the reception and assessment centre for the Polish Air Force in exile.  The photograph above shows the improvement after decent food and rest had taken the place of malnourishment and hard physical work.

After further training on British aircraft he was posted to 304 Squadron and spent the rest of the war maintaining their aircraft, often working 20 hours a day to keep them flying.  His time with the squadron coincided with their time in Coastal Command as submarine hunters and he was posted to places as bleak as RAF Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, RAF St Eval in Cornwall and RAF Dale in Wales – all beautiful in summer but inclement in winter.  And all necessary in the fight against the U-Boats.  After demobilisation in 1946 he served for two years in the Polish Resettlement Corps.

A group of 304 Squadron ground crew – Marian is second from the left in the back row

For his wartime services he was awarded the British Defence Medal and the War Medal often, (and wrongly) known as the Victory Medal and the Polish Air Force Active Service Medal.

In 1948 he made the decision to emigrate to Australia. On arrival he was taken from Sydney to a refugee camp in Bathurst, New South Wales . The accommodation had no heating and the temperature was below freezing every night. He said they were all suffering badly from the cold which was something they had not expected in Australia.

Travelling within Australia, he found the vast distances, and the fact that they could travel hundreds of miles without seeing another person, overwhelming However there were good things at which he and his weary travellers also viewed with astonishment. They were allowed off the ship at the different ports and when they first arrived in Australia they could not believe the food available to them – they could order a steak in a café for very little money and it was huge and of the best quality. To those who had been prisoners of war in the worst possible conditions, food was never again taken for granted.

Although not easy for some years, life continued in Australia. Then, in 1950, while he was working on the railway at Bowning in NSW, he saw a little boy and his mother struggling with a suitcase. It was Betty Weekes and her son John. Marian’s gentlemanly offer of help, led to friendship and the first real stability in his life since before the war. Betty and Marian married in Yass, New South Wales, on 25 June 1952 and that year, they moved to Cooma where, in time, four children were born to to them; Joe, Robert, Jane and Andrew. And it was here that this picture was taken in happier days when all the conflict and suffering of his youth was over.

It was at Cooma that Marian again picked up his electrician’s trade, at the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme and, like most of the European settlers in Australia, he was a very hard worker and never missed a day’s work. He worked on the Snowy Scheme until his retirement in 1971. He then worked part-time for Ortner Electrics in Cooma until he was 80 years old.

As a man, Marian was most known for his integrity; he was a competent tradesman and was highly respected by all who knew him. He kept contact with war-time friends during his lifetime. Marian had a keen intellect, open mind, wide knowledge and interest in many subjects including history, music, philosophy and science. One of the greatest gifts he bestowed upon his children was to treat them as intellectual equals from when they were very young and the house was always filled with lively debate on interesting topics.

As a man who had a very diverse life which included both world wars, a great deal of travel, a long single life, a long married life, several children and grandchildren, Marian had a deep wisdom about life which was often mixed with his dry wit. On one occasion he was asked if he thought life was fair and he said he had noticed that there were always compensations in life. For instance, if you see a man with one short leg – if you look closely – you’ll notice that the other one is always a little bit longer. Perhaps humour born of the difficult times in his life – a life that deprived him of everything as a young man, even a birth certificate. See the picture below of the military issue replacement.

Marian remained active, walked every day, played his violin, drove his car and had his keen intellect and all his faculties intact until the very end of his life on earth on 27 February 1993 when he sadly died of a cardiac arrest .  He is buried in the Cooma Lawn Cemetery.

All photographs courtesy of Betty Bogatek

Betty as a young woman

I have the sad duty to inform you of the death of Betty May Bogatek nee Weekes who was born on 30th September 1923 at Burrinjuck in New South Wales. She died peacefully at her home in Cooma, on 29th September 2014, the day before her 91st birthday.   As a child, her father had to follow work wherever it was available and they lived in various places across Queensland and New South Wales where they were building hydro-electric dams.

As a young woman she worked as a cook; she lived in Sydney for a time where she met and married and had a little boy, John.  Her first marriage ended and she and John returned to Bowning to live with her family.

She met Marian Bogatek, one day on Bowning railway station when he offered to carry her suitcase. In time, they got to know each other and eventually married on 25th  June 1952 in Yass. It was also in that year that they moved to Cooma. Together they had five children, ten grandchildren and one great grandchild after a long and happy marriage.

She was an accomplished dressmaker and trained pattern maker and made many of their clothes. She also did paid dressmaking.  As a mature student, she went to Cooma Technical College for three years to do secretarial studies and in those days it covered book keeping, shorthand, typing and all sorts of business studies.  Over the years, she also did courses on pottery, painting, writing, the Internet and various other things.  During that time she also worked briefly as a housemaid at the Marlborough Motel and longer term, as a cleaner in Cooma North.

Betty just a few days before she died

She loved to paint and she painted many pictures and always of beautiful things, flowers and birds and things like that.  She could write well too and one of her stories about the Snowy Mountains Authority is held as part of a collection at the National Library in Canberra.

 

Two of Betty's paintings

 

THE MISSING HUNDREDS

I have been reviewing my unused notes and I am beginning to reaalise just how many of the brave Poles of 304 Squadron are unaccounted for.  Each and every one of them deserves a place in this tribute but it is so difficult when there is just no information.  So far I have picked up 132 names and I have not yet completed the letter C!  If any one reading this can help with any information/photographs/documents/press cuttings on any of them, please contact me on nevillebougourd@gmail.com but please leave a contact email number!

The first 132 names are listed below and I will publish more as I retrieve them.

ABAKANOWICZ F/Sgt Leon Brunon P-781320

ABCZYNSKI F/O Andrzej Emil Gabriel P-2737
ABRAHAM Sq/Ldr
ADAMCZYK L/Ac Emil P-782423
ADAMCZYK L/Ac Stefan P-703327
ADAMOWICZ Sgt Adam Stanislaw P-782087
ADAMOWICZ Ac1 Jan P-709002
ANANOWSKI Sgt
ANDRUSZKIEWICZ L/Ac Zygmunt P-782560
ANDRUSZKO F/Lt Waclaw P-1933
ANDRZEJEWSKI L/Ac Edward P782081
ANDRZEJEWSKI L/Ac Stanislaw P-793587
ANIMUCKI Sgt Stanislaw P-705563
ARABAS A/C2 Jan L P-704639
ARANOWSKI Sgt A
AWDZIEJEW Sgt Jan Stanislaw P-784934
BACHMAN L/Ac Adolf P-703341
BACHRYNOWSKI L/Ac Bronislaw P-703892
BACZYNSKI Cpl Jozef P-703337
BACZYNSKI F/O Tadeusz Stanislaw P-2503
BAK Cpl Antoni P-784081
BAKOWSKI Ac1 Edward P-707012
BAKUN L/Ac Jozef P-703340
BALINSKI F/Sgt Waclaw P-706896
BALOS L/Ac Stanislaw P-780375
BANAS Sgt Jan Julian P-782919
BANASIAK Cpl Stanislaw P-705786
BARAN L/Ac Jan P-781840
BARAN L/Ac Wladyslaw P-705131
BARANIK Ac2 Czeslaw P-708647
BARCZ Cpl Edward P-780166
BARCZUK L/Ac R
BAREWSKI Sgt
BARSKI Ac1 Roman P-708414 Also known as JANOWSKI
BARSZCZ L/Ac Stanislaw P-781426
BARTECKI Sgt Leon P-782156
BARTELSKI F/Lt Jan Mieczyslaw P-2454
BARTKIEWICZ Cpl Jan P-780032
BARTNICKI W/O Gerard P-705685
BARTNICZAK L/Ac Franciszek P-782178
BARTOSZEWICZ L/Ac Kazimierz P-705791
BASIAK F/O Jan P-0330
BAWOLSKI F/Sgt Edward Antoni P-780312
BEDNARZ L/Ac Karol P-780377
BERES L/Ac Tadeusz Marian P-783022
BERGER Sgt Antoni P-793337
BETLEJEWSKI L/Ac Stefan P-706146
BIALECKI Sgt Jozef Janusz P-783228
BIALEK Sgt Stanislaw P-780723
BIEDA-BIELOWICKI Ac2 Ignacy P-703233
BIELECKI F/O Jan P-2842
BIELSKI F/Lt Zygmunt Tadeusz P-2231
BIENIAS Ac1 Adam P-705796
BIENIASZ Sgt Jan Kazimierz P-782829
BILICKI Sgt Florian Stanislaw P-782091
BLACHOWSKI F/O Jerzy Jozef P-0948
BLAZEJWSKI F/Lt Antoni P-1826
BLOCK Ac2 Franciszek P-709635
BOBA Sgt Tadeusz P-782718
BOBER Sgt Mikolaj P-792487
BOBOWSKI L/Ac Wladyslaw P-703342
BOCHAT L/Ac Teodor Waclaw P-780724
BODNAR L/Ac Antoni P-782144
BOGATEK Cpl Marian P-703231
BOGUSZ Sgt Kazimierz P-782542
BOGUSZEWSKI L/Ac Wladyslaw S P-782088
BOHATKIEWICZ Henryk
BOJARCZUK W/O Romuald P-783111
BOJMAN L/Ac Wolf P-706110
BOLAWENDER Sgt Edward P-705690
BOLESLAW L/Ac Stanislaw P-703992
BONDEL L/Ac Marian P-704105
BONDER L/Ac Stanislaw P-703347
BORECKI Cpl Bronislaw P-784101
BORECKIL/Ac Kazimierz P-703733
BORKOWSKI Cpl Tadeusz P-781956
BORKOWSKI F/Lt Zdzislaw Kazimierz P-2303
BORZYCH F/Lt Jan P-1827
BOUSZE Cpl Stanislaw Tadeusz P-781445
BRAS F/Sgt Antoni P-780309
BRATKOWSKI Sgt Marian Jan P-782686
BRAUN F/O T
BRAZKOWSKI L/Ac Marian P-703346
BROCHMAN F/O Roman P-2955
BRODA Sgt
BRODOWSKI L/Ac Jan P-703334
BROS L/Ac Wladyslaw P782092
BRUCHACZA Act/Sgt A
BRYCH Sgt Pawel
BRZEZIE-RUSSOCKI F/Lt Aleksander Maria P-1978
BRZOZOWSKI Ac2 Tadeusz P-706575
BRZOZOWSKI W/O Zygmunt P-704191
BRZUCHACZ F/Sgt Andrzej P-780757
BUCHMAN L/Ac Dawid P-707638
BUCZACKI L/Ac Tadeusz P-781347
BUCKO Sgt Jan (or Julian) P-794894
BUCZYLKO W/O
BUDKIEWICZ F/Sgt Kazimierz P-784190
BUJAS L/Ac Marian P-784232
BUJAS Cpl Mieczyslaw P-782427
BUKOWSKI F/Sgt P-793105
BULZAK L/Ac Stanislaw P-705544
BURATYNSKI W/O Henryk P-704987
BUREK W/O Jozef P-784160
CEGLA Sgt Jan P-780856
CEGLINSKI Cpl Jozef P-792935
CHARKIEWICZ L/Ac Leon Jozef P-705807
CHILMON L/Ac Aleksander Pawel P-794507
CHLOSTA L/Ac Stanislaw P-703351
CHMAJ F/Lt Tadeusz Kazimierz P-0582
CHMIELEWSKI F/O Waclaw Marian P-2896
CHOINSKI-DZIEDUSZYCKI F/O Jan P-1864
CHOJNACKI F/Sgt Mieczyslaw P-706447
CHOJNACKI Ac1 Pawel P-708651
CHOMICKI Sgt Marian P-704293
CHOMKA F/Lt Waclaw P-0670
CHORZEWSKI Sgt Kazimierz P-704106
CHRISTMANN F/O Rudolf Karol P-0006
CHROMCEWICZ Cpl Jan P-784266
CHRUSCICKI L/Ac Andrzej P-794742
CHRZANOWSKI S/Ldr Wladyslaw P-0134
CHUCHELA F/Lt Wladyslaw
CHUDZICKI Sgt K
CHUDZIKIEWICZ Sgt Tadeusz P-705776
CHWAJA Cpl Waclaw P-781628
CHWALKO W/O Leonid P-783233
CIASTON Sgt Franciszek P-792374
CIBICKI L/Ac Tadeusz P-794104
CICHOSZEWSKI Sgt Maksymilian P-782796
CIECHANOWICZ F/O Mieczyslaw P-2868
CIECHANOWSKI F/Lt Wiktoryn Zygmunt P-1310
CIELEN L/Ac Adam P-782176