A Polish Odyssey

0:02Al Murray: Thank you for listening to We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Sign up to our Patreon to receive bonus content, live streams and our weekly newsletter with money off books and museum visits as well. Plus early access to all live show tickets. That's patreon.com slash we have ways.

0:25This episode is brought to you by WISE. It's only when you start moving money between currencies that you really think about the exchange rate, the fee, and what might be hidden away in the small print. Whether you're living abroad, paying someone overseas, or just trying to manage your money across borders, you want a fair exchange rate, an easy transfer, and no surprises along the way. WISE keeps things simple. Wise is a smart way to move the currencies you need around the globe. It works in more than 160 countries and with over 40 currencies. Most transfers arrive instantly. Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate, like the one you see on Google, with no markups or hidden fees.

1:06So when money needs to move, you can see the rate, know the fee and get on with it. Join millions saving billions on hidden fees by downloading the Wise app today. Be smart, get wise, T's and C's apply.

1:46milligram injection. ZepBound contains terzepatide and should not be used with other terzepatide containing products or any GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if ZepBound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop ZEPBound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems.

2:22Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia, if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking ZEPBound with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979 or visit zepbounce.lily.com.

3:01Al Murray: Hello and welcome to our series of Family Stories, the podcast written by you, the listener. Today we're bringing you a whole range of stories and accounts. British civilians preparing for your invasion, forgotten bombs beneath a farm, and the final letter of a soldier who never made it home. First of all, though, we have this story from Brian, who writes... This account, written by my grandmother, Myrtle Dorothy Mackey, might be of interest to the show. It features an evacuation, Molotov cocktails, and gives a good idea of how British civilians experienced the end of the phony war and prepared for the threat of invasion in 1940.

3:35Here is Myrtle's handwritten account of her experience.

3:38Al Murray: My husband Sidney was a ship surveyor in the Sea Transport Ministry. At the beginning of 1940 he was working in London and we were living in Horsham, Sussex, to the south-west of the big city. Sid was so busy night after night he could not spare the time to come home. Eventually he decided to stay with my mother in Notting Hill, near central London where his office was. In spring of 1940 we were threatened with invasion by sea and parachute, so I evacuated to Dawlish in Devon with my son Colin, aged 11 years, and daughter Jan, five years old. While we were there, the Battle of Britain was fought, and those were anxious days with Sid in London.

4:12Al Murray: Jan remembered her daddy every night in her prayers, asking God to take care of him. It was difficult to get accommodation in Dawlish, but I had very happy relations with all the people I met there. I got to know many of them as I agreed to take on the secretarial work at the Home Guard, though we were then called the local defence volunteers. tears. I enjoyed this clerical work and the very real contacts I made. The headquarters of this organisation was in the library of a large house belonging to Major Riley, a professor at Exeter University who had a charming wife and three daughters. Everybody was doing their utmost following Mr Churchill's broadcast on the radio after Dunkirk.

4:46Al Murray: It was in Mr Riley's garden that the volunteers' Molotov bombs did their work, and what a mess they made of his beautiful garden. These bombs were made of highly flammable liquid put into bottles of all kinds, which were corked and bowled at the cork with adhesive tape, which held a match. Quantities of these bombs were placed at strategic sites around the town and were to be used by the Home Guard against invaders. Jan and Colin, with the other children, helped to collect empty bottles of wine, soft drinks, vinegar, etc., from the inhabitants of Dawlish. They also helped to wash, clean and stack the bottles.

5:15Al Murray: The work went on for about three months. The weather was beautiful, and it seemed a sin to make such dreadful things in such beautiful surroundings. Major Riley demonstrated the finished article on a garden roller. We all stood back about 20 yards. He made a direct hit and truly the resulting flames were widespread, leaping at least 10 feet in all directions. One day I was working in the office at the house, the children in the garden under the guidance of 19-year-old Prudence Riley. Most people were doing their normal work and using their spare time preparing for the enemy, who we all felt were about to invade the country.

5:47Al Murray: Leaving the office to go home, I met Prudence at the gate. She was anxious about the delivery of a large stack of Molotov bombs which were waiting to be taken to the local fire station. I offered to take them in my car, a 9-horsepower Wolseley Wasp which was at the gate. Plenty of volunteers offered to load it. The boot was filled to capacity with bombs and all the back seat and floor space as well. There were about a dozen bombs in most of the cardboard boxes. I must have had at least 200 bombs on board. My daughter Jan sat at the front with me and we started off. On the way we passed the house we were staying and the maid who had been left in charge by the owner was in the front garden.

6:21I stopped to show her a bomb as she had wanted to know what one looked like. We then went on to the fire station, negotiating a very stiff corner on one of those shockingly steep hills common in Devon. The firemen took delivery of our cargo and we went home. Next morning before 8am, there was a ring at our doorbell and I hurried down in my dressing gown just in time to see Major Riley driving off to the University of Exeter in his Humber. He gave me a wave and pointed to a parcel on the steps. He had bought me a box of chocolates. It was only then I realised what a great risk I had taken. One other night, we heard voices at the front of the house.

6:54and in the morning found Colin had left his bicycle outside. It had been taken by a special constable to the police station. We were forbidden to leave any transport about that could be used by the invader. The good officers of Prudence Riley enabled us to get off without a fine. All the time we were in Devon, from May 1940 to the last day of the year, we heard enemy aircraft overhead practically every night, on their way to Bond Bristol and South Wales, with little defence against them. Air raid warnings would wail soon after dark, and three to four hours later came the welcome all clear. Well, thank you for sharing your story, Brian.

7:27This story comes from David, who writes, I thought I'd tell you about what my family got up to in the war, but please don't expect tales of great heroics or incredible daring do. These are simply a few family experiences from that time. I live in the same small village of Rockbourne that my family have lived in for many years. Nestled in the Chalk Valley, just a few miles south of Holland headquarters, My grandparents on both sides of the family are farmers and have been for a long time and as reserved occupation, they spent the war busy digging for victory. One of my aunts was in fact a land girl who had moved in to help out.

8:03It wasn't until after her death many years after the war that I found out that she wasn't actually a member of the family, but had just settled in and had been adopted into the family for the rest of her life. My grandfather had a lucky escape one day. A stray German bomber decided to jettison his 1 ,000 kilogram bomb, and it whistled down and buried itself right in the middle of the farmyard as everyone looked on in astonishment. By an incredible piece of luck, it didn't explode, or I probably wouldn't be here to tell the story. It had buried itself so deep that they just decided to leave it where it was and cover it back over.

8:36It wasn't until the mid-1950s that it was decided it would probably be best to safely remove it. God, I should cocoa. Crikey. Like many people, my grandfather kept a diary and his entry on February the 8th, 1944, makes for sombre reading. An American Douglas transport plane crashed on Coombe Hill. The crew and a number of British paratroopers lost their lives. I saw five of the bodies lying on the ground, an awful sight. It was one of a large formation dropping parachutists. In his entry the next day, he says that he'd learned that 11 men in total had lost their lives in the crash. Only one family member was actually in active service My great uncle was an artilleryman in Burma In Slim's forgotten 14th Army He never talked much about his service He just wanted to get on with his peaceful life And was grateful to survive the whole affair As the family war waffle addict I have his campaign medals Including his Burma star I hope this little snapshot Of how the war touched the lives of every family Whether they were on the front lines or not Will be of interest to you Well, yes, it is.

9:42Thank you for sharing that story, David.

10:11confidence it was Russian. Holding the Russians accountable is World War 3. They took down a British passenger jet containing 350 people. Man in the Kremlin is playing, Alex. You've got to ask yourself, do you want to play or not? You're the Prime Minister. You've done nothing!

10:31We would need to understand the policy context. All the relevant context will be structured as a framework today and disseminate it into an operation order or frago. A frago that says to kill the president of Russia.

10:47Al Murray: Yes. New from Goalhanger. Who is going to be able to pull this off? You're my soldier, are you? Sergeant Tom McDuff. Duffy. An audio drama journey like no other. Men like Duffy, they are our most valuable weapons. Devised as a technically rigorous, geopolitical action thriller where Britain plays its strongest hand against its strongest foe. Don't do it, nothing! Bear Hunt. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

11:29Al Murray: Right now, this next story is from Carl, who writes. Many congratulations to you for how this amazing podcast has grown in its seven years. Well, yes, well, thank you very much. This is the story of my paternal grandfather. My paternal grandparents were born in the Second Polish Republic, which in the 1920s was somewhat isolated after fighting wars with basically all of its neighbours immediately following the Great War. My ancestors found themselves on either side of that conflict, being subject of both the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires. My grandfather, Jan Grzinski, born in 1921 in the town of Chelm near Vososa, was a combat engineer in training in 1939.

12:09Al Murray: He was folded into the hastily assembled Lublin army, which stood up to the face of the German invasion. On the 17th of September, the Soviets launched their own invasion from the east, hastening the Polish army's collapse. What happened next is best described in Jan's own words. On September 29th 1939, the Russian army in front, we were taken prisoner, disarmed and were given a vodka and food party and they gave a big speech. We came to your country to liberate you and give you freedom and prosperity. Seven of us did not take the great offer and during the night escaped without saying goodnight to our liberators.

12:43A decision was made. We go to Lviv and then to Hungary or Romania and later France to join the new Polish army. Difficult and hard journey, Russian army and very unfriendly local Ukrainians. At Lviv we rented two rooms with no furniture in order to make the preparation for the next part of our move. None of us knew this part of the country or the people. One member of our group had an old aunt. Her son was a doctor and very active in the scouting movement. We had to make plans for the future journey and to look busy, we decided to work. No food and started a job as bricklayers for the Soviet Army NKVD.

13:18The pay was very good and we gave our money to the people we knew or met. At the beginning of November, we told the bosses that we missed our families and were returning to Vososa. We were paid and given plenty of food that was given to our new friends. Our plans were ready. the old Austrian compass in perfect condition, so in nomine Patris let us go to the future. Sikorsky's army formed in France under the command of General Władysław Sikorsky in late 1939 following the fall of Poland. Several units, totalling 85 ,000 troops, were organising when France was invaded on 10 May 1940. Despite Marshal Philippe Petain's calls for an armistice, Polish units fought on until they were ordered to evacuate to the UK to continue the struggle, as England's ally.

14:03Al Murray: Jan was evacuated aboard the Polish ocean liner MS Battery during Operation Aerial. As Polish units reformed in the UK, he initially continued his engineer training but ultimately was transferred to the Polish Air Force in July 1942. After receiving his wings, he was assigned to No. 309 Landet Czwerwin Squadron in April 1944. The squadron had been declared operational in December 1940 and was formed as an Army Cooperation Squadron flying Lysanders. It converted to a fighter squadron in 1942. In this capacity, it operated Hawker Hurricanes and North American Aviation Mustangs, of which Jan piloted both.

14:42Al Murray: While with No. 309 Squadron, Jan flew Atlantic Convoy Escorts and Fighter Sweeps over Norway. On 20 September 1944, Jan was rotated back to Blackpool before being transferred to No. 318 City of Gdans Squadron in March 1945. Number 318 Squadron was a tactical reconnaissance squadron activated in March 1943. The squadron converted from Hurricanes to submarine Spitfires in 1944 and was active in Italy, even taking part in the Battle of Monte Cassino until it was disbanded in 1946. Jan followed the squadron to Italy and flew photo reconnaissance missions in Spitfires. The squadron emblem, painted on the aircraft, three playing cards, was inspired by the pilots constantly playing cards.

15:22Al Murray: Jan told my father that they would wager how much time they had left to live. However, while in Blackpool, Jan had met a young Polish leading aircraftwoman named Victoria Barbara Ratasyak. Victoria, born in 1926 in the town of Sarni, which lies in modern-day Ukraine, she had made her way to Blackpool from Poland via Siberia to Kazakhstan, Persia, the Transjordan, Palestine and Egypt. In Palestine, she completed high school and transferred to the Women's Army Corps. She was evacuated to the UK in 1944 due to malaria, where she joined the Polish Air Force as an electrician. When Jan learned that he was going to Italy with No.

15:56Al Murray: 318 Squadron, or as he recorded it, posting to sunny Italy to see girls, Victoria told him she would marry him if he made it back alive. Sure enough, Jan returned with a grin upon his face and the two married. They were demobbed in 1946 and had two children before emigrating to Canada. Despite being on the winning side, they could not return home and they were given their choice to the Dominions. Family law says the line-up to go to Canada was the shortest. Jan and Victoria arrived from the UK, settling in Hamilton, Ontario, and had a third child, my father. During the 1950s, Jan participated in a Royal Canadian Air Force Reserve training programme that allowed pilots to maintain proficiency should mobilisation be necessary.

16:38Al Murray: He flew chipmunks that had been assigned to the Hamilton Flying Club. I was too young and too shy to get many stories out of Jan before he died. The most memorable was that his squadron purchased a Messerschmitt BF109 from another squadron for a bottle of whisky and sold it to an American squadron for two bottles of whisky, coming out well ahead in his opinion. Jan was a wild and dashing man who died in 2005, aged 84, no doubt with a smirk on his face. He was also exceptionally proud of his certificate in English from Oxford. It was framed on his dining room wall. One of his Hurricanes, LF363, which rolled off the lines on 1st January 1944, still flies today with the Battle of Britain Memorial flight, despite a crash in 1991.

17:21Al Murray: Keep up the great work, gentlemen, and thank you so much for recording our family stories. That was from Carl. Thanks for sharing. Amazing! The BBMF Hurrican zooming into the story. This last story comes from Richard, and this is the story of William Edgar Heslop, my grandad Will's cousin. My dad, David, recently told me of a letter that stayed within the family, a letter William, known as Edgar, wrote to his parents in case of the untimely event of his death. Unfortunately, the letter itself has been lost, but luckily, my dad had already digitised what was written. I'm unsure of the details of Edgar's death, but he served in the Honourable Artillery Company in Africa, Sicily and finally Italy, where he was killed in action in September 1944 at the age of 23.

18:06Oh dear. As per many other family members at the time, Edgar's parents ran a milk house in Liverpool. Edgar was very bright and did classics at Oxford University, where he achieved a BA on. Much to his parents' distress, Edgar joined the Royal Artillery in 1940. Before he went abroad, Edgar wrote this letter to his parents. I feel Edgar's letter needs remembering. Nossium, 1942 My very dear mother and father, It is my fervent hope that you will never have to read these words, for when you do, you will know that I am probably dead. I'm writing this letter in Nottingham before my departure for the East, not with any premonition that I may not come back, but because I feel that if anything does happen to me, I don't want you to have an official notification and then nothing.

18:56I'm sure that in these circumstances, you would prefer some word from me, such as this letter, rather than an unbroken silence. In the first place, I want to say over and above all, please don't be too upset. It has been God's will that I should not come back. I'm prepared to accept his decision. You must do the same. God has seen fit to bring sorrow on you, but he will bring soothing relief in sorrow's train. So you must not be too distressed. You must abide by the words oft repeated in prayer. Thy will be done in earth as in heaven. in god alone you will find comfort for this is part of his divine purpose i want to take this opportunity of saying once and for all just how much i owe to you my dear and beloved parents you've done everything possible for me you've given me every chance from the earliest days which i can remember as a little child i recall how i was never without anything which would help me without spoiling me i was denied nothing but at the same time i'm proud to say you didn't spoil me.

20:00I had everything I could possibly need but you never allowed me to get silly ideas to think I was better than anyone else. That is what I thank you for above all. I went to an ordinary school. I mixed with ordinary boys. I went out with the milk even though sometimes I didn't want to when you might have easily sent me to a private school and brought me up as an effeminate little gentleman. Thanks to your encouragement and interest I was fortunate enough to reach Oxford, but I should never have done it if I hadn't had a father and mother like you who did everything in your power to help me. I can never express just how grateful I am to you for all the chances you've given me.

20:37All I can say, Mum and Dad, is that I simply owe everything to you. I was sorry in some ways that after all the education you worked to give me, I didn't seem to have gained any concrete success, particularly so when this entailed my going abroad and causing you considerable distress. But to me, the army was only a continuation of my education, or rather, the main and important part of my education, and I had hoped to return to my studies with a fresh, invigorated mind, a new, more realistic view of life. I only wish I could have wiped all this out by completing my time at Oxford and attaining a position which would have given you some kind of satisfaction after all your trouble.

21:16I am really sorry that I have not been able to attempt to pay back even a part i can never pay at all it is so enormous of the debt of gratitude which i owe to you by being a comfort and interest to you as you grew older that is my only regret for myself i'm quite contented and resigned to whatever my fate is to be i hope it will be some consolation to know that i went abroad a confirmed believer in god's power with confidence and assurance based on my trust in him content to submit to his will if he decided that i should not return to england You may rest assured that I have died with few regrets.

21:51Thanks to your constant love, kindness and encouragement, my life, though short, has been a very happy and full one in every respect. I've had a wonderful home life and every advantage such wonderful parents as you could give me. I've been in love with a marvellous girl whom I had hoped to one day make my wife. I've had the opportunity of travelling all over my own country and visiting many of its natural beauty spots, the Lake District with its unparalleled rugged grandeur, the Yorkshire Dales, the Moors of Derbyshire and the Plains of Cheshire and Shropshire, the beautiful country of Hereford and the Welsh border, the wonderful cliffs of Devon and the Monmouth Hills above the Bristol Channel, and the glorious Wye Valley, the beautiful Avon country, the quaint Isle of Man, the woods and green fields of Oxfordshire, and last but not least, Suffolk, the agricultural jewel of England, where I was fortunate enough to meet Paddy.

22:45These are most vivid among my memories. I've been abroad too and I have seen the fields of France and the light-hearted gaiety of her care-free people, the wonderful snow-clad Alps, the industrial north of Italy and her barren southern wastes, the glorious Adriatic and even more glorious Aegean which lapsed the shores of the land of Greece, outstanding for its beauty and interest. I will never forget the Acropolis bathed in an atmosphere of ancient grandeur, or the mountain scenery of Delphi, the snowy slopes of Parnassus, and the narrow track leading through the valley to the sea. I have mixed with people of all races and all occupations.

23:24I have seen human nature in every mood, at its worst and at its best. I have had very few dull moments. I have seen life in every sense of the word, and I have enjoyed it. I will just repeat, I have had a full, interesting and happy life What could any man want more than this? I can only end as I began by asking you not to be distressed for my sake But to put your trust in God and in him find comfort and symphony So, until we meet again, as we most certainly shall do Mum and Dad, I will say goodbye and keep smiling Your ever-loving son, Edgar well goodness me that's uh that's some letter isn't it and thank you richard for sharing this extremely moving letter well a huge thank you to our contributors today brian david carl

24:18Al Murray: and richard to be featured in one of our family stories episodes or in our newsletter please email us at we have ways at goal hanger.com don't forget to label the email family stories so that we won't miss it if you have any images or videos we can use as part of your family story too please include them with your submission. If you'd like to hear more stories such as these, sign up to our Patreon at wehaveways.com Thanks for listening. Cheerio! Cheerio!