大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Stoke-on-Trent Libraries on behalf of John Milczarek and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Before Britain declared war, when my dad was 6 and living in the village of Mwava in Poland.
Dad went out to play in the fields one day. On his way back he saw German soldiers in the village. He saw his mum and dad with all of the other villagers - men, women and children. He stood and watched as they were all loined up and shot. For some reason, even though they saw dad, the soldiers spared his life. He saw them dig a big trench for all of the bodies before he ran off to his aunt's farm. He lived in the barn there. Again I don't know why I can only assume it was in case the Germans came and found him.
Dad joined the Polish Army in the heavy artillery. He saw action at Montecasino - he said there were streams of blood running down the mountain.
dad told a story about walking with a friend in a wooded area when a shell expolded - his friend was decapitated.
Straight after the war dad went to live in Scotland, then he came to live in Blackshaw Moor near Leek, Staffordshire. He met my mum in Leek, she was Italian - she'd come to England to visit her sister who was married to a Polish soldier.

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