大象传媒

My late husband, Leszek Kwietniowski left his home on his 17th birthday and it was 18 years before he saw his family again. That was 2nd September 1939 when he, a friend, and the friends father left Katowice, Poland. They had a long, dangerous journey through Romania, working when possible to buy food and keep clean.
Eventually they reached Cherbourg, where a British Destroyer brought them to England. The White Cliffs of Dover were Leszek's first sight of England, and in later years he was always moved whenever he saw them.
He trained as a pilot with the R.A.F. in Scotland and also learned to speak beautiful English.
When our son Richard was 3 months old in 1957, Leszek's mother and sister visited us for a short holiday. HIs sister was 3 years old when he left and he was so afraid he wouldn't recognise them - but of course he did!
It was a very joyful reunion, and in later years we were able to visit Poland with our children.
The Polish name was difficult to pronounce so we had changed it by Deed Poll to my maiden name of Dessent, but when Leszek died in 1978, Richard changed his by Deed Poll back to Kwietniowski.
Leszek had written memoirs of his travels since leaving Poland, and whilst at Canterbury University Richard gave them to an Anglo-Polish friend to translate into English.
Unfortunately they lost touch over the years and we have never been able to trace them.
If anyone has any information about them, we would be so grateful, as there is so much we cannot remember.

'This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sara-Jane Higginbottom of the CSV Action Desk Leicester on behalf of Pat Dessent and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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