EUGENIUSZ SIEDLECKI

He was born on 14^th April 1919 at Zaborol in the Luck district (now in Ukraine).  From 1935 to 1938 he trained in Bydgoszcz he trained as a radio operator/air gunner and then joined the 1^st Air Regiment in Warsaw and went on to serve in the 213 and 217 Bomber Squadrons and fought in the opening campaign of the war until he was evacuated to Czerniowice aerodrome in Romania with the rest of his crew and their aircraft.  He was interned but soon managed to escape from the camp.

He made his way to France via Jugoslavia and Greece, arriving there on 23^rd October 1939.  He was posted to a reconnaissance squadron and his crew was eventually ordered to Oran in Algeria.  The aircraft had to make an emergency landing in Spain where he was detained for a month before being handed over to the Vichy French authorities.  This was the same aircraft on which Bernard Poloniecki  made his first attempt to get out of France.  He was demobilised and spent some time in the American Hospital hospital  in Marseilles whilst his escape was arranged.  He escaped from Marseilles in January 1941 and fled to Oran where he was interned for a month before being sent to another Polish detention camp in Algeria.  He attempted to escape but was caught and sent to a punishment camp in the Sahara Desert where he stayed until he was liberated by Allied forces.  He left Algeria at the end of November 1942 and arrived at the Polish Depot at Blackpool on 6^th December 1942.

He was posted to RAF Halton where he began training as a wireless operator/air gunner and he moved on to 6OTU on 30^th May 1944.  He was then transferred into 304 Squadron on 8^th August 1944 at the Coastal Command base at RAF Chivenor in Devon, where he flew 29 missions .  During his career he was decorated with the Cross of Valour three times and the Air Medal and was promoted to Warrant Officer on 31st August 1945.

In England he met and married his wife of 67 years and they emigrated to the USA in 1948.  They settled in Woodstock, Illinois and raised a family of seven children.  The family moved to Grayslake in 1963 and he spent the rest of his life working a five acre smallholding and made a living growing and selling vegetables and flowers.

Subsequently an obituary has been  published revealing that he had died in Grayslake, Illinois, USA on 18th December 2010 and was interred there in the Avon Centre Cemetery.