DoomedSoldiers.com Looking for Photos, Documents, Stories, etc.

[DoomedSoldiers]

Hi All,

We are looking for photos depicting the Doomed Soldiers of the Polish Underground to be featured on our website Doomed Soldiers | Forgotten Heroes of the Polish Armed Underground Resistance During And After Second World War (WWII) - Descriptions And Overview of Units, Scope of Activities, Officers, And Soldiers, As Well As Presently Undergoing Investigations A. We are interested in photos of individual soldiers, units, insignia, underground publications, operations, etc. conducted after the "liberation" of Poland. Needless to say, if you have any photos / documents pertaining to the units from WiN, NSZ, ZJ, AK, and others, we would like to feature them on our website.

Our direct e-mail is "info AT doomedsoldiers.com" If you do have any photos related to this subject-matter, please consider pitching in by making them available to a wider audience. We should not let the world to forget about these extraordinary men and women!

All the Best,

Robert

[Peter Wells]

Hi Robert - remarkable indeed.

Would you care to extend the scope of this thread to include the men/machines of the South African Air Force who gave their all to supply the people on the ground?

I know the Polish people annually remember this facet of their struggle but it may not be widely known.

Regards from sunny South Africa.

[DoomedSoldiers]

Hi Robert - remarkable indeed.

Would you care to extend the scope of this thread to include the men/machines of the South African Air Force who gave their all to supply the people on the ground?

I know the Polish people annually remember this facet of their struggle but it may not be widely known.

Regards from sunny South Africa.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for bouncing back. By all means! While the effort of the South African Armed Forces in support of the Polish Underground is well known and recognized in Poland, is not very well known elsewhere ... and it should be!

South African Pilots over Warsaw in 1944, The Warsaw Airlift - "The Airlift could not save the gallant Polish [Home] Army. While the Polish army was being destroyed, the Russians sat idly by a bare 20 miles (32 km) away. The Polish government in London appealed to the Russians for help or simply co-operation, but Stalin flatly refused even to grant permission for aircraft based in Britain to land behind Russian lines. The Airlift failed in its purpose but it served to cement a bond between Poles and South Africans based on mutual respect and sincere friendship. Evidence of this are the annual commemoration services arranged by our local Polish community. But there is further evidence, and in this lies a wonderful story. A letter from the Director of Information Services of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, tells of a selfless and public-spirited Pole, one Bronislaw Kowalski, who has, on his own initiative, and over a period of years, erected a shrine in the woods near the village of Michalin, some thirty kilometers south-east of Warsaw. The shrine marks the exact spot where a S.A.A.F. Liberator crashed in flames at midnight on 14/15 August 1944". Source: The South African Military History Society



All the best,

Robert

[Peter Wells]

Thanks Robert

Let's see what develops.

I found this site via google 'http://www.polonia.co.za/warsawflights/hb-ar.htm' which has some details - as a matter of interest Lt Brian Jones (extreme right in the photo) lives within a few Kms of me. Doesn't like talking about it though.

My family conection is that my father was flying Marauders with 21Sdn also out of Foggia at the time and the SAAF crews were all very close.

Regards

[ezed]

Although my dad survived the war and is still golfing and Polka dancing today, there are times when he felt "doomed" while operating in the Polish Underground. After many years of listening to his stories and visiting Poland to see where he experienced these things, we finally convinced him to document his life. If you like, you can go to Amazon books and order it.
Amazon.com: Surviving the Holocaust:: Stan Kijowski's Journey in a Wicked World (9781453668368): Anna M. Mitchell, Dr. Nancy Bolz: Books
He still travels a some to talk to groups, mainly kids in high schools and colleges. I have been listening to his stories forever and that makes me have the greatest respect for those who lived and died during those times.