Polish wartime heroes commemorated

Polish pilots and mariners who lost their lives in Malta during WWII were remembered yesterday when a commemorative plate recalling their heroic end was unveiled at the Capuchin's naval cemetery, in Kalkara where they are buried.

An official delegation from the Polish Ministry of National Defence, represented by Under-Secretary of State Maciej Gorski and Brigadier General Witold Szymanski, took part in the moving ceremony.

Personalities paying homage to the war dead included President Guido de Marco, the Polish ambassador to Malta Michal Radlicki and the consul of Poland in Malta, Stephen Parnis England among others.

Crew members of the Polish navy training vessel ORP Wodnik, currently on a training cruise in the Mediterranean and presently berthed at Grand Harbour, acted as an honorary escort.

Malta played a significant role in World War II serving as an important base for Royal Navy submarines and surface vessels as well as fighter and bomber squadrons of the Royal Air Force that managed to thwart supplies for German forces in Africa from reaching their destination.

Pilot Lt Krzysztof Dobromirski, Lt Zbigniew Idzikowski, Sgt Alfred Kleniewski, pilot Lt Stanislaw Pankiewicz, aircraft gunner/radio operator Sgt Roman Wysocki and aircraft gunner MSgt Oskar Zielinski were among the victims.

The ship ORP Kuwawiak sank with its crew on April 16, 1942 while patrolling the entrance to Grand Harbour, protecting the seriously damaged British destroyer Badsworth which had come under attack.

Several mariners from the Kujawiak were killed and British units rescued many of the injured.

The Polish ships Garland, Piorun, Blyskawica, Slazak, Krakowiak, Dzik and Sokol participated in war operations around the Mediterranean defending and protecting Malta.

The Wodnik will be open to the public until Friday.