About

I began these pages intending it to be my paternal family history, firstly by recalling my father’s oral memories and what family letters that exist. It then developed into a search, begun by my father before he died, for what became of my grandfather who had been a Polish army officer, detained in Germany since September 1939 as a prisoner of war. This my father was unable to discover but I continued the search which ultimately was successful. Many written documents were lost during WW2, especially those from that part of Poland occupied by the USSR. I decided that the only way to learn anything was to go there. In the end it became less about ancestry than a lesson in history. My father served in WW2 in the Polish Army under British command but I will always remember him say ‘War is a testimony to failure’. With that in mind my travels morphed into something else which I cannot find a single word to describe because it has nothing to do with religious or spiritual experiences. I think the quote from J.J.R Tolkein which appears on the logo on top of the page is the most appropriate I can find. Decide for yourselves. Enjoy the posts which I will be releasing once a week. Finally, special thanks to Austen Lennon, whose IT expertise was essential in ensuring this project did not remain a figment of my imagination.