Letter By Eugene Borysiuk – Polish Apprentices at RAF Halton
During our visit to the museum on the grounds of RAF Halton, we spent time going through the archives to explore materials related to Polish Apprentices who served there during World War II. Among the items in the archives was the following letter.
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Transcription of letter by Eugene Borysiuk, June 2018?? – Polish Apprentises At Halton
The start of my association with HALTON goes back a long way – August 1943 when a group of Polish boys arrived from middle east. To clarify the situation of Polish boys presence in middle east and then arrival in England there is a need to briefly go back to the start of World War Two – The invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in September 1939. The might of German forces alone was too great for Polish forces to withstand but when on 17-th September Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east then there was no hope and the booty was soon divided between two aggressors. When the end of resistance as inevitable some soldiers crossed into Hungary and then by variety of routes managed to get to France and then to England to continue the fight. Soldiers who did not or could not get away were taken Prisoners by the Soviets and immediately transported to “gulags” in Siberia. That was only the beginning of mass deportation of Polish people from eastern Poland to Siberia. There followed a mass deportation of families which continued to June 1941 – when Hitler invaded Soviet Union. At this point Soviet Union became an ally of the west.
Polish government in exile immediately started diplomatic moves to obtain an amnesty for soldiers and all Polish deportees. This was not achieved easily but slowly the news about amnesty permeated to most areas and people began to plan leaving their place of exile. The authorities were not helpful but despite great difficulties a lot began their long and arduous and full of hardship journey southward. People had no means of support and inevitable terrible consequences followed – starvation, exhaustion, diseases and deaths. Only the strongest survived but despite all that more than 100,000 civilians managed to get away from Soviet Union and into Persia. The time was summer 1942.
Amongst the civilians were many young boys, a lot of them orphans who at the earliest opportunity joined the army, the army cadets being organised in Palestine under the protection of Polish army. Most of us at that time were still dreaming of returning after the war and in order not to return empty handed we were eager to learn. In May 1943 a special Polish Air Force mission arrived in Palestine to select candidates for training in England at the RAF training establishments. There were no shortage of volunteers and in August 1943 two hundred and seventy young boys arrived in Halton. This number was later increased to three hundred. The training in earnest was planned to start in 1944 and in January were were segregated into trades and 100 were transferred to No 1 Radio School Cranwell. The training continued to July 1947 when the majority graduated. The writer of these notes was one of them obtaining the result of Pass with Distinction.
Having completed the training we had a very important decision to make regarding the future. The return to Poland was not an option for most of us because of the political situation there and the majority of us signed up for a five years regular service in the Royal Air Force. The time spent at Halton left an indelible mark on all of us. A lot of us were orphans and Halton gave us a very sound and solid basis to carry on.
Eugene Borysiuk, June 2018?
Presented from our visit to the Trenchard Museum at RAF Halton
Julie & Art – The Places Where We Go
Related Reading
Apprentice Technical Training at RAF Halton
Introducing The Polish Forces at RAF Halton Resource
Polish Aircraft Apprentices of RAF Halton
RAF Halton Hidden Documents (1944)
Trenchard Museum RAF Halton – Aviation History Hidden Gem
Top 10 Polish History Sites to Explore in London
