Stanislaw Bacia VM
| Town/City | Benowa Waters |
|---|---|
| First name | Stanislaw |
| Last name | Bacia VM |
| Country of Origin | Poland |
| Date of Birth | 2/11/2014 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1952 |
| Submitted by | Jennifer Bacia |
Story
STANISLAW BACIA VM, Croix De Guerre
HILDA BACIA nee Baird
My father, Stanislaw Adam Bacia, was born on November 2, 1914 in Bobrowniki in the industrial belt of Southern Poland. Graduating as a teacher, he was also a reserve officer attached to the 11th Infantry Regiment and was commissioned a lieutenant in 1938.
Following the German invasion of Poland, he fought as a platoon commander in the defence of Lvov but when the Soviets invaded from the East on September 17, 1939, Poland\’s fate was sealed. My father escaped into Romania and was interned in such poor conditions that he contracted malaria. By bribing a hospital orderly with his watch and signet ring, he escaped once more, making made his way through Yugoslavia where he boarded a freighter to Marseille. He then took a train to a rallying station in Paris and now under French command, took part in the defence of France.
For commando action near Belfort in eastern France in 1940, he was awarded Poland\’s highest military honour, the Virtuti Militari and also the French Croix de Guerre. When France fell, he escaped into Switzerland where he was interned in the village of Bettenhausen. There he organised a school to continue the education of young Polish soldiers.
After the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944, my father, like many of his comrades, escaped over the Swiss border to rejoin the fighting. This time he fought under British Command and was promoted to the rank of Captain.
He landed in Britain on March 8, 1945 and was located to Peterhead, Scotland where he was later demobilized. Like so many other Poles who had fought on every Front in the War, he could not contemplate returning to a homeland now under a Communist government.
In February 1947 he married my mother Hilda, a successful Scottish businesswoman and prepared to put down roots in the UK. My mother said it was only after I, Jennifer, was born in Aberdeen that he finally felt he belonged.
However, given the glowing reports sent by Hilda\’s brother who had already migrated to Australia, my parents decided to follow in his footsteps. They arrived in 1952 on the SS Ormonde and not being assisted migrants, were free to settle where they wished. They bought a home in Brisbane Ð one of the few brick stucco houses at the time – as my mother was amazed at the wooden homes on ‘stilts\’. She named the house on Hamilton Road, Wavell Heights, ‘Glencairn\’, and that name is still on the house today.
In Brisbane my parents worked hard, established a series of successful businesses and made many Australian friends whom they found so welcoming. My father also became inaugural President of the Polish Ex-Serviceman\’s Association (SPK) and, until his premature death in 1969, always led the Polish contingent in Brisbane\’s Anzac Parade.
My father always spoke highly of his adopted country and as a Pole put a high value on the freedom and security he found here. A modest man, he spoke little about his wartime exploits yet I only wish he had lived long enough to see the liberation of Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe, initiated by the courage of the Solidarity activists.
Jennifer Bacia