Polish monuments to WW2 American, British and other foreign airmen

The village of Woroniec in Eastern Poland goes first - American B17 was shot down there in 1944.

The construction of the monument was initiated in 1997 to honour the 41,802 dead and missing US Air Force pilots taking part in the Battle for Europe. The monument, unveiled in 2000, shows the tail of a B-17, known as the Flying Fortress, which was shot down at this location in 1944. We are celebrating this event on June 21. The unusual form of the monument consists of a bomber outline on the ground and a vertically protruding part of its tail with commemorative inscriptions in Polish and English.

Each year the local community holds the tribute celebration:

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A momument in Warsaw, honouring British airmen.

The monument commemorates the crew of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber from 178 squadron RAF helping the Warsaw Uprising , shot down on the night of August 14, 1944 by the German anti-aircraft defense . The crew members of this plane were killed (with the exception of the on-board gunner Henry L. Leyne, who was wounded and taken prisoner by Germans) . After the end of the war, in August 1945, on the initiative of the Polonia Militia Sports Club, a cross was placed on the grave of British airmen in the park.

The monument was unveiled on November 4, 1988 by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the presence of the only surviving crew member, Sergeant Henry Lloyd Lane .

There are inscriptions in Polish and English on the monument:

IN THIS PLACE
ON THE NIGHT OF 14 AUGUST 1944
WHILST BRINGING HELP
TO THE WARSAW UPRISING
THE CREW OF 178 BOMBER SQUADRON
ROYAL AIR FORCE LIBERATOR EV 961
GAVE THEIR
LIVES WE SALUTE THEIR MEMORY

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Respect.

Another monument of that type:

The monument is located in the eastern part of Reduta Ordona in the Ochota district, Warsaw. It has the form of a boulder with an inscription on it . It was unveiled on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in 1994.

It commemorates the crew of the Liberator EW264 aircraft from the 178 Bomber Squadron of the British Air Force RAF , shot down by German artillery or night fighters on August 15, 1944, during a drop for insurgent Warsaw . The crew included Murray A. Baxter, RW Robinson, J. Winter, GW Joslyn, JW Lee, W. Pratt, and FJ Barrett. They all died on the spot.

You can see traditional lanterns put on graves on 1st November.

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@pawian

A nice memorial.

Can memorial be nice?

@Alien
A nice memorial (nice to look at? Pleasent for the eyes? Heartwarming?)

It's not always about behaviour, can be impression too

You explained it nice....ly.😀

Yes. Nice in the sense that local community still honours the fallen airmen - the memory of their sacrifice will remain there as long as that monument reminds of it.

This happens in other European countries too, notably France.

The story of Am B 17 crew member Sergeant Alvin J. Ellin

He died after parachuting out of a damaged American bomber plane returning from an air raid on Blachownia and the local chemical plant. The bullets of the German gendarme reached the sergeant while still in the air, thus it was a war crime - he had no chance to fight or surrender.

He was buried on October 19, 1944, by the fence next to the chapel in the Jawiszowice cemetery, where, after the liberation, on October 21, 1945, his remains were transferred and he was solemnly buried in the proper grave, then still as an unknown airman. He was exhumed again on October 18, 1947, and his remains, already identified as Sergeant Alvin J. Ellin, were taken by representatives of the United States Army to one of the American military cemeteries.

This pilot was 19 years old at the time of his death, he was the tail gunner in the American B17 Flying Fortress bomber. Of the entire crew of ten who parachuted over Jawiszowice, only he died. Eight were taken prisoner and one, thanks to the help of local residents and soldiers from the Home Army unit, returned to his unit in Italy.

The plane shot down over Jawiszowice by the German Flak anti-aircraft battery stationed in Przecieszyn was a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress named Św. Francis (St.Francis).

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