On 4 July 2013, Jan Stanisław Ciechanowski, the Head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression led a Polish delegation to Gibraltar to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Gibraltar air crash in which Gen. Władysław Sikorski – the Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-Exile and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces died along with his accompanying entourage and pay tribute to the victims of that tragedy.

The commemorative ceremonies in Gibraltar were attended by: World War II veterans who flew in from Poland and Great Britain,  Vice Admiral Sir Adrian Johns – the Governor of Gibraltar, His Eminence Józef Guzdek – Bishop to the Polish Army, His Eminence Ralph Heskett – the Bishop of Gibraltar, Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert – the Secretary of the Council of Protection of Memory of Combat and Martyrdom, Anthony Lima – the Mayor of Gibraltar, Commodore John Clink – the Commander of the British Forces in Gibraltar,  Brigadier Krzysztof Szymański – the Director of the Office of the Head of the National Security Bureau, Brigadier Wiesław Grudziński – the Commander of the Warsaw Garrison representing the President of Poland, Anthony Lombard – the Honorary Consul of Poland in Gibraltar, Teresa Ciesielska – the daughter of Col. Andrzej Marecki, Graham Herring – the son of the second pilot William S. Herring, Karolina Kaczorowska – the widow of the late Polish President-in-Exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, and members of the Polish community in Gibraltar.

The commemorative ceremonies were inaugurated with a High Mass celebrated by His Eminence Bishop Józef Guzdek, in the Cathedral of the Holy Blessed Virgin Mary in Gibraltar.  Upon the Standard of the Republic of Poland being brought in by soldiers of the Representative Battalion of the Polish Army, the national anthem was sung.  In his sermon, the Bishop underlined that the Polish delegation came to Gibraltar on the 70th anniversary of a great tragedy which, in a most particular way, touched the Polish nation, to enshrine the memory of those who died for Polish freedom and independence.

In commemorating the 70th anniversary of the tragic death of Gen. Władysław Sikorski, we wish to pay tribute yet again to that great Pole.  General, sir, you fought for your Fatherland to your final breath.  God spared you many disappointments and heartaches.  You did not live to countenance the treacherous diktats of Teheran and Yalta.  You did not hear the weeping Polish soldiers of the 2^nd Corps who had nowhere to return to because their homes, for the most part, were left beyond the borders of Poland.  You were spared the sight of the despair of Polish soldiers who, at the end of the war, were not invited to participate in the victory parade.  You did not come to know the fact of the reimposition of Soviet occupation – he said.

The Bishop underlined that, in the final analysis, Gen. Sikorski was to be victorious.  In 1993, he was laid to rest among the kings and bards of the nation in the crypt of the Royal Cathedral of Wawel. 

The statue which we are to unveil and bless today is a reminder to everyone of the Polish nation’s great contribution to the defeat of evil in the 20th century – he added.

After Mass, Jan Stanisław Ciechanowski observed that in this place, where 70 years ago stood the biers bearing the coffins with the mortal remains of Gen. Sikorski and Gen. Klimecki, one should mention the history of the painting of Our Lady of Częstochowa, which is in one of the cathedral’s side chapels. The picture was donated by Col. Leon Śliwiński.

Leon Śliwiński server Poland to the best of his abilities during the war. He was a Polish intelligence officer in France and, for a short time, also the head of the Agency of the Second Bureau of the Commander-in-Chief’s General Staff in that country.  He was arrested by the Germans.  After the war, he proclaimed that he owed his salvation to Our Lady of Częstochowa.  He thus funded something in the region of over 200 such pictures.  That is a beautiful example which shows the link between the Polish war effort, the glory of Polish arms, and Our Lady, Queen of Poland – observed Ciechanowski.

After this memorial service, the Polish delegation proceeded to Europa Point, the new site of the monument commemorating the victims of the Liberatora AL 523 crash, which claimed the life of Gen. Sikorski.  This monument was built by the efforts of the Council of Protection of Memory of Combat and Martyrdom (Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa). The next part of the programme commenced with the entry of the national flag with the emblem of Poland.  Soldiers of the Representative Battalion of the Polish Army formed a guard of honour accompanied by a trumpeter and drummer of the Representative Orchestra of the Polish Army..

The President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, had a special message to be conveyed to the participants of this ceremony.  In a letter read out by Waldemar Strzałkowski, the President emphasised that in the darkest hours of World War II, General Sikorski unflaggingly worked for the restoration of Polish sovereignty, and that he was an outstanding statesman who ranked alongside the most prominent leaders of the anti-German coalition.

He never lost sight of the common allied aim which was to liberate Europe from the totalitarian grip of the Nazi regime.  In his political conceptions and diplomatic activities, the issue of Polish independence was not of a narrow particularist character, but tied in closely with the restoration of the democratic order in Europe and respect for the rights of all nations and every human being.

The President thanked everybody who contributed to making this initiative happen.  He also conveyed his words of gratitude to the authorities of Gibraltar which made it possible to place this monument in such a prominent and special place.  He emphasized that as from today, the promontory known as Europa Point symbolically points to those most important of values which are common to all: freedom and brotherhood. 

The Governor of Gibraltar Sir Adrian Johns cordially greeted the group of World War II veterans; he observed that because of the tragic death of General Sikorski, Poland lost one of its most outstanding sons and national leaders.  He reminded his audience that over 200,000 Polish soldiers fought alongside the allies during World War II.  Their sacrifice is engraved in the history of many war operations, if only to mention the Battle of Monte Cassino or the Battle of Britain.  All of that was backed by the unseen but key contribution of Polish intelligence throughout the whole of Europe and other countries around the globe.  He mentioned the Polish mathematicians who cracked the Enigma secret which in the opinion of many had bearing on ending the war earlier than anticipated.

Today, in unveiling this monument, which has been rightly reinstated in this splendid place, we pay tribute to Gen. Sikorski and all those who were with him and perished in the disaster.  We pay tribute to the exceptional courage of those Polish patriots who fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the allies – declared Governor Johns.

During the ceremony of unveiling the monument,  Jan Stanisław Ciechanowski recited the names of all of the victims of that air crash lest they be forgotten.

For the Poles, the death of Gen. Sikorski was a great loss.  Especially in face of the challenges which they rose to meet, and do battle from the first day of the war.  General Sikorski, as the Commander-in-Chief, organised the Polish army in France, and subsequently reconstituted it in Great Britain, unwaveringly believing in the sense of making common cause against the Germans.  He combined the two most important posts in the state.  He was aware that our political position would depend on the strength of Polish arms.  Sikorski personified the Poles fighting on every front.  He took upon himself the vitriolic criticism of many of his compatriots that came with the signing of the Sikorski-Maisky Pact which brought salvation to tens of thousands of Poles incarcerated in the ‘inhuman land’ that was Russia.  On the other hand, the General was unable at that time to secure guarantees for Poland’s eastern borders.  But when in the spring of 1943 it became necessary to demand explanations regarding the fate of 10,000 Polish officers and more who were murdered in Katyn and elsewhere in Soviet Russia, the honour of a Polish officer did not allow him to remain silent or give credence to the lie that that crime was perpetrated by the Germans.  That was the limit to the possibility of a compromise.  That was a defence of the Polish reason of state and a fight for the truth.  It does not seem that Sikorski would not have made the mistakes which were to be made by his successors.  Had the General lived, the voice of protest of a free and democratic Poland against the final decisions at the war’s end would surely have resounded more powerfully.  Death prevented him from squaring up to the worst challenges that derived from the settlements of Teheran and Yalta, and the situation that came to pass upon the entry of the Soviets into Poland.  In recollecting the dramatic events of 70 years ago, yet again we invoke the figure of General Sikorski, his closest collaborators and soldiers.  We call to mind the Polish-British brotherhood-in-arms.  We can be proud of the great contribution of the Poles to the defeat of Germany in World War II.  It was Poland that was the first to say “no” to Hitler and fight from the first day of the war to the last.  The Poles had one of the best intelligence networks.  They cracked the Enigma code before the war.  Despite their enormous contribution they were only to regain their independence in 1989.  And one of the national heroes who was remembered in expectation of that independence was Gen. Władysław Sikorski.  Those World War II veterans who are with us here today, pay tribune to their commander.  We thank our gracious hosts, the authorities of Gibraltar, for the fact that we can be here 70 years after the disaster to pay tribute to the Poles and Britons who perished that Day.  We thank you for the opportunity to unveil this statue in such a splendid setting – Ciechanowski declared in his speech delivered at  the foot of the monument.

There then followed the act of unveiling the monument commemorating the victims of that aur crash.  The Governor of Gibraltar, the Secretary of the Council of Remembrance of the Fight for Freedom and Martyrdom, the Head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression, and Teresa Ciesielska – daughter of Col. Andrzej Marecki, all joined in the symbolic cutting of the ribbon.  The monument was officially blessed by His Eminence Bishop Józef Guzdek and the Rev. Col. Eugeniusz Bójko - the representative of the Orthodox Ordinariate of the Polish Army.  They recited a prayer together.

The ceremony by the monument was concluded with the laying of wreaths and bouquets.  The Polish delegation was led by Jan Stanisław Ciechanowski who laid a wreath together with Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert, Karolina Kaczorowska, Teresa Ciesielska, Krzysztof Szymański, Wiesław Grudziński, the Polish Consul General in London Ireneusz Truszkowski and Waldemar Strzałkowski of the President’s Office.

This ceremony was followed by the Polish delegation and the ex-servicemen laying bouquets on the graves of the victims of the air crash who were buried in the local cemetery: Jan Gralewski, Col. Victor Cazalet and Brigadier John Percival Whiteley.

In the late evening, at 23.08 hours, on the beach near the place where precisely 70 years earlier the aeroplane with General Władysław Sikorski on board, fell into the sea, a prayer was offered in the intention of all of the victims of that tragedy.  This moving token of remembrance was concluded with Teresa Ciesielska - the daughter of Col. Andrzej Marecki, and Graham Herring – the son of the second pilot, William S. Herring, putting flowers into the sea in memory of the disaster.  Patriotic songs and religious hymns were then sung to the accompaniment of the sound of the vast and brooding sea.

On 3 July 1943, Generał Władysław Sikorski landed on the Gibraltar air strip on his return journey from a tour of inspection of the Polish Armed Forces in the Middle East which had lasted several weeks.  A day later, on 4 July, at about 22:30, the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces together with the persons accompanying him, made for the airport.  About 16 seconds after take-off, about 600 metres west of the runway, the aeroplane fell into the sea.  That air crash claimed the lives of: Gen. Władysław Sikorski – the Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-Exile and the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces,  Brigadier Tadeusz Klimecki – Chief of Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, Brigadier John Percival Whiteley – advisor to the Viceroy of India, Col. Victor Cazalet – Sikorski’s British liaison officer and Member of Parliament,  Col. Andrzej Marecki – Chief of the Third Bureau for Operations of the General Staff, Lt. Józef Ponikiewski of the Polish Navy, Sub-Lt. Zofia Leśniowska – Gen. Sikorski’s daughter, Walter H. Lock – the British Ministry of Transport’s representative in the Persian Gulf, Harry Pinder – chief of the Royal Navy Signals Station in Alexandria, Adam Kulakowski – the secretary of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, Jan Gralewski – a Home Army courier, Maj. William S. Herring – the aeroplane’s second pilot, Lewis Zalsberg – the navigator, Francis Kelly – the on-board mechanic, and two radio-operators-cum–gunners - George B. Gerry and Dobson Hunter.  The only survivor of the crash was the Czech pilot – Capt. Eduard Prchal.

Coverage of the ceremonies

Coverage of the ceremonies - longer version

Photo gallery by Alina Nowacka