The Odyssey of a Polish Patriot (eBook)

Jack La Plante (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
612 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
9781667844824 (ISBN)

Infos

This is the story of a Polish airman, an individual driven by his faith in God and love of country during WWII, who managed to survive and thrive under the pressure of war and even find the love of his life during its darkest hour. With the aid of strangers, a loyal friend and a Special Lady, he became a hero in exile to his family and friends in Poland and to his new family and friends in England, he became known as one of the brave Polish Patriots.

Jack La Plante is a retired teacher of History and long time football/track coach at Hartford Public High School in Hartford, Connecticut. He is a former U.S. Army recon specialist. His first book 'Stories From the Fifties, East Hartford Style' was self-published in 2015. He lives with his wife, Pat in Manchester, Connecticut.

Textauszug

Sergeant Mechanic Wandzel stood at the foot of the bed. He was holding onto the bed frame and staring at Ludwik’s chart trying to decipher the notes scribbled on it in the timeless, messy manner that most hurried physicians seemed to use.

“Good to see you, Andrzej,” Ludwik said quietly.

“Ahhh, Ludwik, glad you made it my friend. How do you feel?”

“Good enough, my friend. And you and the others?”

The lack of military formality between the two men was typical of the Polish Air Force. Rank had no real meaning with most of the men. They were friends first and foremost. Officers and enlisted men both shared the same dream; to win back the brief but wonderful independence that Poland had gained after World War I.

The sergeant lowered his head for a moment then said, “Edward is dead. His body washed up on the shore. Stanislaw and Witold are missing. Zygmunt and Jan are here in the hospital. They are not allowed any visitors. I got out of the plane through a break in the fuselage about ten feet from Edward’s position in the tail. I never saw him. I have some cuts, bruises and a broken ankle. God was with me,” the sergeant replied. He raised the crutch that had been resting on the bed frame and gave his friend a sad smile.

“How long have I been here?” asked Ludwik.

“Three days,” the flight mechanic answered.

Three days. And two men still missing! Probably dead by now. Ludwik was shaken by that. He hoped their bodies would eventually wash ashore like Edward’s had. Then they could all be buried together at the base with the honor they deserved.

He had lost three good friends. Three more men that would never see their homeland again. A surge of guilt ran through him. He had been the pilot that put the plane in the sea. If only he had seen the runway sooner. If only he could have managed to loosen the controls and climb over the storm. He knew he had done the best he could considering everything that had happened. He also knew he would have to live with the fact that men had died while he was at the controls. It was a sad moment for him.

Days passed. A week went by. Then two weeks. The pain from the deep bruises on his chest had lessened considerably. His facial cuts were healing nicely. The hospital care, along with the almost daily letters from Nellie, had done him well. Andrzej visited every day and brought updates on the other two survivors. They were improving. Concussions, cuts and a few broken bones aside, the hearty Polish lads would be up and about soon. Their flying days, like Ludwik’s, were over for now.

News arrived daily on the steady advance of the Allied forces squeezing the life out of the Nazis. Hitler’s armies were being crushed by the Russians closing in from the east and the American, British and other allies, including Polish forces, from the west. They were all positioned inside Germany now and it was only a matter of time before the war ended. The slaughter would soon be over and Hitler’s “thousand-year Reich” gone in a relatively few ugly years. That was the welcome news. The worrisome news was that a large Russian bear was now prowling the Polish countryside and he was very, very dangerous.

On January 22nd, Flight 1586 was given orders from the Polish High Command in London to cease flights into occupied Europe. The “Special Duties” squadron was further ordered to “stand down” for the immediate future. All operational and support equipment was to be inspected, repaired and refurbished.

Ground crews were to conduct a thorough inspection of their respective aircraft. Each plane would then be cleaned, lubricated, repainted and fueled. The order did not receive a “high priority” label; just said to get everything done in an orderly manner. Command at Campo Casale knew that the “stand down” order also meant some sorely needed rest for the flight crews. They were to be given some leave on a rotating basis. Those not on leave were to be considered off-duty.

Everyone at Campo Casale hoped that Special Duties, Flight 1586 had flown its last mission. More than five years of war seemed like a lifetime for many of the veterans who had managed to survive. Their prayers of returning home would soon be answered. The important question now was, would they be allowed to return to Poland? Stalin, the Russian dictator, was already making demands about the post-war borders in Eastern Europe and seemed very unlikely to favor any plan for Poland’s return to independence. The memory of the Russians refusing to help the Poles during the Warsaw Uprising last October had shown he cared little for the Polish people.

On February 15th, the question of where “home” would be after the war was answered. Probably not in Poland. At the Yalta Conference in Crimea, the United States and England agreed that post-war Poland would be controlled by the Soviet Union with a Russian promise of free elections shortly after the war ended. Ludwik knew that promise was a lie.

He also knew what awaited him and his family if he chose to return to Poland with them. Imprisonment for him was almost certain, exile with the family to the Russian gulags probable and his execution would be no surprise. There had been many reports of those things happening in Poland. He also didn’t believe the fact that Nellie and the children were English citizens would make any difference in their treatment by the communist government.

The men and women of the Polish Armed Forces throughout Europe were stunned, disappointed and angered by the decision of their allies to give Poland to the Russians. It was a betrayal, plain and simple by the very people they had fought side by side with for years. Their anguish was shared by many in the Allied military. While understanding the political reasoning that prompted the give-away, keeping Stalin in the fight, it was hard for them to watch a valued and respected ally lose its country after fighting so hard to regain it.

Immediately after the Yalta concessions were made public, all Polish airmen at Campo Casale were ordered to turn in their weapons for “reconditioning.” The Polish Command had decided not to leave any weapons in the hands of their emotional countrymen. They worried that some might take their own lives in frustration and anger after hearing their country had been given away; that their sacrifice and blood had been for nothing. They knew the number of Polish casualties, military and civilian, was already in the millions. No need to add to it.

Everyone at Campo Casale was outraged by the agreements made at Yalta. Heavy drinking and anger became the unofficial order of the day. Some of it even spilled over into the quiet confines of the hospital.

Ludwik’s personal plans for post-war life had been dramatically changed by Yalta. The future for him and millions of other Poles had been decided in an arena of appeasement. He would be with Nellie and Kazimierz, but not in Poland. In was no different in his mind to what had happened when the British were fooled into agreeing that Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland should be ceded to Germany to appease Hitler. Six months after that decision, Germany controlled all of Czechoslovakia. And that had been just the first step in establishing their dominance over the rest of Europe.

Now history was repeating itself. Poland had been given away in the hope of pacifying Stalin and his Russian Soviet Union.

Ludwik’s disappointment in the Yalta decision was tempered somewhat by knowing that a home in England was waiting for him. He knew that Nellie’s family would help him find his way. There would be opportunity for him after the war. That would not be the case for most of his fellow Poles. Their choice of returning to Poland and all its uncertainties or starting a new life in a foreign land without their loved ones, would be filled with frustration and bitterness. He vowed that he would do what he could to help as many of his comrades as possible. His door in England would always be open to any Pole that walked down his street looking for a friend.

The world was about to regain some sense of sanity and millions of people were going to celebrate the beginning of a new life with their loved ones. Many would rejoice with unabashed, patriotic pride in their victory and get on with life in their own country. His people, left like a sacrificial lamb, would have to deal with the loss of their freedom once again. Ludwik wondered when, if ever, it would be Poland’s turn to celebrate its return as a free country. With that in mind, he knew he would have to simplify his plan for the immediate future. Poland would have to wait for now. First, he needed to regain his strength quickly. He would have to work hard on what had made him who he was; a determined individual with a firm belief in discipline, hard work and prayer. All concepts he had learned being raised on a family farm. It was important that he remain calm, measured and patient. He had been through something similar to this sort of thing before in England after being struck down by a drunk driver and nearly losing his life.

He knew from that experience physical pain would eventually...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.6.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945
• ISBN-13: 9781667844824 / 9781667844824