I wonder how many of the 21 million passengers a year, who pass through Manchester International Airport, know that theres a Garden of Remembrance, between Terminals 1 and 3 ? And far fewer than even that will know of the very special group of Poles commemorated there. For, during WW2, Manchesters municipal airport was RAF Ringway, the No.1 Parachute Training School. Some of the 250,000 Poles who served in the British Armed Forces during that conflict trained here. And amongst this schools most special alumni were the Cichociemni - lit. the silent and dark. These men and women were tasked by the Special Operations Executive with penetrating the very darkest heart of the Fascist beast enslaving their country. Highly trained saboteurs and intelligence agents, they flew in by night - and many paid the ultimate price. Of the 309 who made that journey, fully a third were killed. In action, or by unsurvivable tortures, or simply just murdered by the creatures of a medieval barbarism. And so this stone was erected in their memories. Like its more famous counterpart, outside RAF Northolt, [mentioned in another thread], the stone was paid for by British public subscription. Just one thing puzzles me. Among the corporate sponsors is: Bells Whisky ! Can anyone shed any light on a possible connection ?
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:43:21 +0000