Beautiful, warm sunshine warmed the commemorative service of the day of the crash that took the lives of seven Polish Airmen over Bradley in 1943. Held at the site on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal on Tuesday 23rd September 2008, the service was extremely well attended with relatives, friends and individuals who had donated towards the erection of the memorial.
Local crash eyewitnesses Margaret Watkinson, 86, and Blanche Race, 96 attended the service in remembrance, as did Mrs Josephine Stebbing MBE, the widow of Flight Lieutenant Jozef Wolnik, and her husband Honorary Alderman Charles Stebbing.
Mrs Stebbing was presented with Jozef’s British service medals, and these will be returned to Poland by Jim Hartley, co-organiser of the event.
Standard bearers were present from the Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women Association, the Royal Air Force Association and the Royal British Legion.
Wreaths were laid and then a sermon was delivered in Polish, for the benefit of the relatives present at the memorial. The National Anthems of Poland and Great Britain were played.
A fly-past organised by RAF Linton-on-Ouse ended the service, which was a momentous and heartfelt commemoration of the lives of those who died.