Poland was invaded by Germany in 1939 and keeping her promise, Britain declared war on Germany.

Sadie, Majorie, Jerzy Gowaszenski and Jerzy Golaszhi

In the summer of 1940 I went with my parents for a holiday in Blackpool, a seaside resort in Lancashire. Many Polish airmen were there, they had come to England, still in their French Air Force uniform, after the Germans had conquered France. It was at this time I met Jerzy Marion Gowaszenski, he was 20, I was 19 and we fell in love. My parents invited him to spend his furlough at our home.

After training to be a bomber pilot he was posted to RAF Station Bircotes, near Doncaster. He joined Squadron 305. We saw each other when we could, which was not very often and I would play the piano for him for he loved music.

Jerzy Marion Gowaszenski 1920 - 1943

Sadly, he began to feel ill, complaining of headaches and pains in his stomach. This was the beginning of a long and painful illness and on the 9th of August 1943 he died, he had cancer of the stomach and liver. He is buried in a cemetery in Newark along with many other Polish airmen. After many letters to and from the British Red Cross Foreign Relations Department, in 1945 I was finally able to inform his sister and brother of his death.

I have recently returned from Poland after visiting my friends in Warsaw and Jerzy's great great nephew who lives in Torun, the home town of Jerzy. He was my first love and although through my life I have had relationships, I never married. I remember everything as if it were yesterday.

In 1943 the Bradford Anglo-Polish Society was formed by a man called Mr. T.L. Neale who was helped by the Poles to escape from the Germans during the 1914 to 1918 war. Bradford families opened their homes to airmen and army personnel from Poland who stayed with them during their furloughs.

The Bradford Girls Trio taken at the British Council house, Liverpool, 1944.

A choir of Bradford ladies was also formed and my two friends, Majorie Keighley, Paddy Hartley and myself formed a singing trio. We were taught to sing in the Polish language by Lieutenant Joseph Makowicz.

On October 17th 1944, the Trio was asked to Broadcast the European Service from the BBC. We sang 'Soldier's Selection', 'Tylko We Lwowie' and 'Tango Marynarskje'.

It was a great success and we received many letters from members of the Polish Army, Airforce and Navy from all over the world.

My visits to Poland, my Polish friends and our singing all came about because I fell in love with a Polish airmen.