During this time he also became reacquainted
with his mother. However, a fall of his horse
injured his knee to such an extent that he could
no longer serve in the Artillery. "Staszek", as
he was known, joined the Polish Air Force and
married Danuta on 8 August 1938. Late August
1939 their son was born, also called Waclaw
Stanislaw.
After the German invasion of Poland, Staszek
flew via Romania to France. After the German
invasion of France, he fled to England. After
two months of training, he was attached to 201
(Polish) squadron, were he was part of a crew as
a second pilot/observer. He held the rank
of porucznik, or Flying Officer. The squadron took part in the
bomber offensive against Germany.
On 23 June 1942, he and his crew, Plt Twarkowski, P/O Dubas, Sgt Kapa and Sgt Meller took off
from their base Hemswell in Lincolnshire in their Vickers
Wellington IV Z1345 GR-D on a raid to Emden.
Around 03.00 a SOS message is received from
Z1345. 15 minutes later, another message that
they are under attack from a night fighter and
have lost their life raft. They are shot down
over sea by a German night fighter and crash in the Waddenzee off Terschelling. The whole crew
is lost.
All of them wash ashore at different locations
along the Dutch coast. All are wearing their
life jackets.
On 15 July 1942 Zbigniew Jan Kazimierz Dubas
washed ashore on the Island of Terschelling, the
Netherlands.
Józef Alojzy Meller initially washed ashore on
17 July 1942 and is buried in the Roman Catholic
Churchyard of Nes on the Island of Ameland, the
Netherlands.
Zdzisław Zygmunt Twarkowski washed ashore on 23
July 1942 and he has been buried in the General
Cemetery, at Ulrum, the Netherlands.
Wacław Stanisław Michalik and Kazimierz Jerzy
Kapa both washed ashore and were buried on 24
July 1942 on the Island of Schiermonnikoog, the
Netherlands.
Staszek Michalik
as a Lieutenant in the Polish Artillery in 1935.
(picture courtesy
of Sietse van der Hoek)
(picture by
Wim Bastiaanse)