Perhaps you have a family connection? Or maybe you’re a local history enthusiast eager to find out about the Polish soldiers who stayed at the Honiton camp? If so, we’d love your help to tell their stories!
The Polish Resettlement Corps was an organisation formed by the British Government in 1946 as a holding unit for members of the Polish Armed Forces who had been serving with the British Armed Forces and didn’t wish to return to a Communist Poland at the end of WWII. It was designed to ease the transition from military to civilian life and to keep them under military control until they were fully adjusted to British life. It was mainly run by the British Army and was disbanded after fulfilling its purpose in 1949.
One of the resettlement camps was in Honiton, and one of its residents was Stan Podsiadlo, an air pilot who flew Mosquito aircraft with the 307 Polish Night Fighter Squadron (originally stationed in Exeter). Stan was amongst the Polish soldiers who decided to stay in Honiton, and he is fondly remembered by many locals in the town: his story an intriguing insight into this fascinating but largely forgotten aspect of British post war life.
Would you like to help us tell Stan’s story? Or do you have your own story to tell about the Polish soldiers who stayed in Honiton after WWII? If so, just email Jess Huffman at jesstosfor@gmail.com or visit her at Honiton Library (every Wednesday morning) to have a chat. We offer research and oral history training to our volunteers, and you could become part of a thriving team of enthusiastic locals eager to reveal more about Honiton’s diverse and multicultural past.
We are still looking for more interested volunteers and potential interviewees who would like to get involved with the Telling Our Stories project in Honiton or ilfracombe.
If you are interested or even if you just have questions get in touch with each team here:
For Ilfracombe: abitosfor@gmail.com
For Honiton: jesstosfor@gmail.com
The project is run by Devon Development Education a global education with over 20 years’ experience of providing expertise to schools and communities in Devon.
Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.