On May 8th, 1945, the Allies celebrated their World War
II success with the London Victory
Parade without Polish colors flying
and without Polish soldiers present. Among
those attending was Abyssinia, Brazil, Persia, Mexico, Nepal
and... Luxembourg (?)
After heaving rendered the Allies momentous service, Poles
were excluded from this
celebration - and in a deceitful way.* Although they had fought on the right side, they
had lost. A few weeks after the Parade,
painted "Poles go home" signs appeared
on walls in England. In addition, the British press
took an anti-Polish tone.
They had no free democratic Poland to go back to, and they became an
army of misfits in the political jigsaw puzzle that was Europe. Among them were thousands
of Polish Air Force personnel, the fourth biggest Ally air force during the war, which had
a lot to show for. Still among them, were pilots who fought during the Battle of Britain,
and undeniably helped to shift the balance for the British. To some extent, a certain
amount of recognition and credit was bestowed upon them, but it was soon forgotten.
These pages
were created with an idea to remind the world about Polish
flyers and their significant contribution toward the defeat of the Nazi Germany, the enemy
of the free world. We also wanted to preserve - if only on a minuscule scale - the memory
of Polish squadrons, as it appeared to both of us that it is the right thing to do.
Although there were many
of them and they withheld nothing, the efforts of Polish flyers availed them virtually
nothing and history prepared another bitter lesson for them. And we have no illusions that our proceedings as well, will not change
this world "where the peace is scarce and injustice thrives".
* Hopefully in a
nearest future, we will publish a
historical essay describing these
events.
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