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20 April 2008
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| Harrod family members with AK Veterans |
On Sunday 20 April 2008, in honour of the attendance of the Harrod family, a special servive was held in the Matczyn
village church, attended by many members of the local community, the AK veterans, the Polish army band and guard of honour,
as well as local dignitaries.
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| AK Veterans enter Matczyn church |
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| Guard of Honour, Matczyn church |
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| Army and AK Veterans in Matczyn church |
After the service, the band led the guard of honour and AK veterans on the short march to the monument, where a number
of speeches and presentations were made, wreaths were laid and the honour guard fired a triple volley in memory of the epic
flight in 1944.
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| The band leads the march from the church ...... |
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| ... followed by the guard of honour and AK veterans ... |
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| .... with local dignitaries and villagers bringing up the rear. |
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| Prof. Stanislaw Woloszyn presents a plaque to Patricia Harrod |
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| Zdzislaw Bednarczyk lays a wreath |
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| The guard of honour fires three volleys. |
26 April 2009
In April 2009, Jonathan, Stephen and Tamsyn represented the family. Tamsyn laid a wreath with a wonderful note
to her grandfather. We dined as usual with Wojtek and Kasia at our favourite restaurant, Tamara.
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| Tamsyn's note to grandfather |
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| Tamsyn in the lounge of the great Lublinianka Hotel |
18 April 2010
April 2010 was the period of zero air travel in Europe thanks to an Icelandic volcano! Undeterred the Hero Boys
(!) drove to Lublin in Patricia Harrod's 14-year old Rover 200 - a truly epic 20-hour journey, much admired by our hosts.
Stephen delivered a 30-second speech in pidgin Polish, to the delight of all Polish speakers.
Zdzislaw then took us all to lunch in Belzyce.
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| Lunch in Belzice pub, courtesy of Armia Krajowa |
April 2011 At last the final family member made it to Matczyn as Christopher joined Stephen and Jonathan to attend the 2011
commemoration service. We attended a service at the school where pupils re-enacted the Wildhorn story and showed off the display
boards they had made to depict the operation.
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| Chris's displays Ted's Virtuti Militari at the monument |
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| The school puts on a show...... |
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| ..... to an appreciative audience. |
April 2012 "Mother Queen" (Patricia), the "Hero Boys", Cathy and Edward made it this year. Patricia was
made an honorary member of AK and the school was presented with a replica Dakota in 267 Squadron colours.
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| "Mother Queen" is awarded honorary membership of AK |
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| Patricia makes a speech with help from Wojtek |
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| The headteacher receives the replica Dakota |
April 2013 Last minute date changes turned this into a solo trip by Stephen. This year included an unexpected re-enactment of
the "Battle of Belzice" when AK partisans attacked the Belzice Police Station to steal lists of AK members who were
being persecuted.
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| Solo turn at the monument! |
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| With Chief of Police, Mayor and Mayoress of Belzice |
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| The Battle of belzice re-enacted |
THE NEXT COMMEMORATION SERVICE WILL BE HELD ON 10-11 MAY 2014 TO CELEBRATE THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY.
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