Stanislaw Morgowik

Stanislaw Morgowik was born in Poland in 1917.   

At the outbreak of war as Germany invaded Poland in 1939 he was badly wounded – shot in the side or the head, his ear badly damaged. He was taken to hospital in Warsaw but because of his injuries they weren't too keen to take him. He was transported to Prussia where the skill of doctors saved his life.

In February 1940 he was transported to Russia, as was the rest of his family. In 1941 when Germany invaded Russia and Russia joined the Allies, General Sikorski (then commanding Polish Forces in Exile in London) came over to Russia which was releasing Polish Soldiers interned in Siberia and Kazakhstan to mobilise them to fight and return to Poland, The re-mobilised army went on to Persia (Iran) to train with the British Army and Allies.

He remembers how in April 1942 they sat all day without food until midnight before something was organised. It was a whole week before accommodation and facilities were organised for the soldiers and families. From Iran they went on to Palestine (April 1942) then on to Tobruk

He fought at Monte Cassino and recalls that on 10/12 May there was a big barrage of artillery – the storming of the Monastery by the Polish Brigade, and with his damaged ear he is now severely deaf and has constant ringing in his ears.

At the end of the fighting some of the men returned to Poland – the rest of the 2nd Corps came to England. He ended up in Brendtree Camp, and after being discharged from the army found agricultural work near Letchworth then on to Marsworth Camp near Tring, then to Dunstable.

Notes from Barbara Fryc