大象传媒

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Taduesz Boron was born on the 6th April 1913 in Poland. When the war broke out in 1939 I was working as a Border Guard. Towards the end of September 1939 together with other border workers, I crossed the border into Latvia and was interned. From here the group were taken by the Russians to Kozielska, where we stayed until the Germans began the war with Russia. 24 hours before the war between Germany and Russia started, we were put into wagons and shipped off to Northern Russia to a camp. From there we were moved to Tocho-Busuch-Koybyszew where the 2nd Corps of the Polish Army was being assembled and mobilised by General Anders. I was put into the 6th Division under the command of General Tokarzewski.

In 1942 I became the commander of the 2nd Platoon, 2nd Company Parachute Training School at Szachrizjabz, Uzbehistan, from here we travelled on to Syria, Persia (Iran). In 1943 I read in the daily Army bulletin that they were looking for volunteers to join an elite group of the Underground Army who would be dropped behind enemy lines known as Cicho-Ciemni, or the men who dropped silently in the dark (paratroopers).

Together with other officers I volunteered for this assignment. We were personally dispatched by General Anders. We left for Great Britain, journeying through Egypt and Durban in South Africa, where we waited for several weeks for a ship in Cape Town. We travelled on the luxury liner Queen Mary which was being used as a troop ship to Rio de Janeiro, then on to New York where we stayed for one week.

When we left New York we travelled on the ship with the American soldiers. We landed in Greenock, Scotland where we underwent training with the Army. Parachute training at Ringway, driving at Falkirk and tank training on Sherman tanks. During this time, 1943-44, the group of officers were assigned to various units and I was sent to London where I worked with the Special Parachute Unit preparing to drop into Poland.

In 1944 I lived in Kensington and during a raid was injured when a bomb exploded in Ealing. I was never able to take part in the parachute drop into Poland. When I recovered I helped organise a new Battalion in Scotland in 1945, made up of Polish Soldiers who returned from the war to England.

I was demobilised in 1946 in Ross and Cromerty with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and went on to study textiles at Nottingham University. I graduated in 1948 and got a job with Vita Tex in Slough. In 1962 I got a job with the Luton Knitting Company and moved here. I retired in 1978. I have been a member of the Luton/Dunstable Polish community since moving here in 1962 and am now 91 years old.

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