Polish WWII leader Władysław Sikorski remembered on death anniversary
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
04.07.2018 15:53
Polish wartime leader Gen. Władysław Sikorski was on Wednesday remembered with ceremonies at home and abroad to mark 75 years since his tragic death.
Gen. Władysław SikorskiPhoto: Collection of the Office of War Information [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Sikorski, who headed the London-based Polish government-in-exile during World War II, died in an air crash near Gibraltar on July 4, 1943.
He was flying back to England after visiting Gibraltar when his Liberator plane plunged into the sea shortly after take-off, according to historians.
A wreath from President Andrzej Duda was on Wednesday laid at the tomb where Sikorski is laid to rest amid monarchs and national luminaries at Wawel Cathedral in the southern Polish city of Kraków.
Meanwhile, a delegation of officials and veterans travelled to Gibraltar—in a trip organised by Poland’s Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression—to salute Sikorski and other victims of the crash 75 years ago.
Sikorski was originally buried at a Polish military cemetery in Newark in central England. His remains were brought to Poland in 1993.
President Duda tweeted that Gen. Sikorski “was an exceptional figure, not only a brave and capable politician, but also an outstanding strategist and a great diplomat.”
(gs)
Source: Polish Radio, onet.pl, president.pl, kombatanci.gov.pl