“D-Day Remembered”
- PostEagle
- June 12, 2015
- Uncategorized
- 0 Comments
Letters to the Editor
Washington Times
Dear Mr. Editor and Board,
Re: “D-Day Remembered” – Washington Times, Page B1 – June 5, 2015
Thank you at the Times and author Christopher Kelly for the most excellent and very poignant article referenced above. But mention of one major army was sadly omitted – that being Poland’s. There were six armies fighting in Normandy – German, British, French, American, Canadian and Polish. Fighting under the flag of Poland, and assigned to Canadian Army operational command, was the Polish 1st Armored Division (Polish Armed Forces in the West) commanded by Gen. Stanislaw Maczek. The Poles followed the Canadian Army onto Juno Beach right after the June 6, 1944 invasion.
The Polish 1st Division consisted of 885 officers, 15,210 non-commissioned officers and enlisted men, 381 tanks, 473 artillery pieces and 4,050 military vehicles. When the Battle of Normandy ended in mid-August the Polish casualties were 1,290 dead, 380 wounded and 32 MIA’s. The Normandy invasion was also supported by Polish war and merchant ships, and Polish fighter plane squadrons under RAF command.
We must, as the article intones, remember D-Day and honor the sacrifices made – even remembering the many contributions of Poland and all of its Armed Forces in the West during World War II.
Respectfully,
Richard P. Poremski – Chairman
National Katyn Memorial Foundation
Baltimore, MD
