Marta seeks Wellington clues in tragic granddad's story

They held slim hopes that the householders would be able to help them regarding events of 70 years or so ago.

And so it proved – they couldn't help.

It was at this house, 6 Nevil Road, that Marta's granddad Sergeant Antoni Kaczmarz, serving in a Polish squadron in the RAF, had been a frequent wartime guest of the Preece family.

And when he was killed in February 1945 his effects were sent to Eva Preece, reflecting his wishes.

Through a contemporary document, Marta knows what they were. As well as things like a raincoat, blue pullover, leather gloves, socks, and so on, there were also photographs, letters, postcards, a scrapbook, identity cards and more.

"These letters and photos are things which for me, if they still exist, have priceless sentimental value," she said.

Eva Preece married in 1945, becoming Mrs Davies, and in Wellington in 1947 had a daughter, Margaret A. Davies.

"I have very small hope that the letters, which I think are from my grandma and written from occupied Poland, and photos of my grandpa, still exist. But could it be possible that Margaret A. Davies still has them?

"For that reason I’m looking for her and want to be in contact with her," said Marta.

Marta has various documents that provide random pieces for an incomplete jigsaw.

"I don’t know in which circumstances my grandfather met Eva Preece, but I know that a lot of Polish airmen during the Second World War were guests of British families. The places where he was – Blackpool, Halton, Cranwell, Bramcote, and Lindholme – are not near to Wellington, so for me it is a mystery how he met those people."

In one document Antoni authorised Eva to receive his effects in the event of his death. Obviously sending them to his wife Maria in Nazi-occupied Poland was impossible.

Marta also has a letter written by Eva, by then the married Mrs Eva Davies, dated October 6, 1947, from 'Plas Nevydd', at 6 Nevil Road, to Antoni's widow. It is typewritten in Polish – presumably Eva had a translator – and she offers her sympathies on his death.

"He was a brave and good person. He was a frequent guest in my home," she writes.

The letter discusses arranging to send on Antoni's effects to his widow, but Marta says this did not happen.

Apart from the sentimental value of letters and photos, they will help Marta, who is from Wroclaw, Poland, as she researches her grandfather's life for a publication.

And there will be an extraordinary story to tell.

Antoni was born on June 7, 1912, in Lviv, which before the war was the Polish city of Lwow, and which today is in the Ukraine. He married Maria Sikora in April 1939 and lived in Drohobych. They had a daughter, Barbara, born in January 1940. Antoni was never to meet her.

Serving in an artillery regiment at the time of the German invasion of Poland in 1939, he was taken into captivity, but escaped after four days and, making his way through Hungary and the former Yugoslavia, he managed to get to France.

There he took up arms again against the Nazis, fighting in an artillery regiment with the 2nd Polish Division. He won the Cross of Valour and his regiment – the 202 Modlin Heavy Artillery Regiment – was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.

With France defeated, the regiment crossed into Switzerland on June 19, 1940, and the soldiers were interned. Antoni was forced to work hard, building roads in the Alps, but on May 5, 1941, fled Switzerland and made his way through France to neutral Spain, where he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp.

He tried to escape through a tunnel that had been dug under the camp's chapel, but was shot and thrown in prison.

He stayed at the camp until January 15, 1943, and was then released, and made his way to England through Gibraltar. He became a wireless operator on a Lancaster bomber with a Polish crew in 300 Squadron, based at RAF Faldingworth in Lincolnshire.

On February 13, 1945, shortly after taking off to take part in the famous raid on Dresden, their Lancaster was in a mid air collision with another Lancaster, and blew up. His body was never recovered.

Marta and her husband have visited the crash site, at Apley in Lincolnshire, and spoke with a witness.

And their pilgrimage brought them on that fruitless trip to Wellington.

"Three years ago my husband and I came to Wellington and knocked on the door of 6 Nevil Road. But the people now living there don’t know anything.

"Later we sent a letter to the people on the other side of the street, as the inhabitants of number 6 informed us that they had been living there since World War Two. Also we visited the cemetery in Telford, because a person from the local administration informed us that maybe we could find more information there.

"Our efforts were without any result."

If you can help Marta trace Margaret, or have any information which might help, she would love to hear from you on marta.hozewska@gmail.com by email.