A little bit of Poland in an English field.

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Since it was built I have often wondered why there is a memorial on the wayside about 5 miles outside Battle in East Sussex? This morning on my way back from Bexhill-on-Sea I decided to stop the car and find out what this memorial is about. This is what I discovered! Nearly home, they almost made it.
The Wellington 1C bomber, number. R1392, took off from the 304 Polish Squadron at Syerston on 27 May 1941. It left for a bombing raid on the French port of Boulogne. The plane was hit by anti-aircraft guns shortly after releasing its payload and started to spiral out of control. The rear gunner, Jozef Drodz, baled out over the channel at that point and was never found. The pilot regained control but soon after the plane caught fire. Stanislaw Jozefiak managed to bale out and landed in trees at Hatfield. Josef Nilski also baled out and managed to survive. The remaining crew were killed when the plane crashed at Darwell Hole. They are buried in the Polish Air Force cemetery in Newark, Nottinghamshire. Jozefiak, originally from Poznan, managed to get to France following the German invasion of Poland. There he trained with other Polish airmen, coming to England early in 1940. By February 1941 about an eighth of the RAF Fighter Command was composed of eight Polish squadrons. Soon after there were four bomber squadrons. Josefiak completed 53 bombing operations, was promoted to Warrant Officer and decorated with the Virtuti Militari, the highest Polish military cross and four times with the Cross of Valour. He later trained as a pilot, flying Spitfires and Mustangs, posted at 317 Polish Spitfire Squadon in Germany. He wrote a book entitled, ‘God, Honour and Country’. In 2000 Josefiak travelled from his home in Derbyshire to attend a memorial service at Chailey to honour three Polish combat squadrons. With the help of David Martin, he was able to locate the exact site where his plane had crashed. The plane had crashed into a large oak tree that still stood on the site. He decided to build a memorial to his fallen friends and came down to the site on frequent occasions building the monument little by little. It was completed on the anniversary of the crash on 28 May 2001.
(Rowland, David. (2004). ‘Survivors’. Finsbury. Peacehaven.)

• 26 Apr, 2010
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