Vizenty Wasilewski       Updated: 12 JUN 2022      Photo from Greg Niebieska eskadra see Wasilewski

Airman: a089005.htm Surname: Wasilewski Init: V Rank: F/Lt Service: PAF Sqdn: 138

P_link: p223.htm Plane: HAL BB309 Operation: SOE to PL Crash_site: Slaglille Mark

Crash_d: d170943 Buried_d: b190943 C_link: c089.htm At_Next: Slaglille

“Natten til den 17. september 1943 var Halifax BB309 på en SOE-mission til Polen, hvor 2 faldskærmsfolk og containere med våben
blev nedkastet.

Under returflyvningen blev flyet skudt i brand over Sjælland af en tysk natjager og måtte kort før kl. 5 om morgenen foretage en
nødlanding. Herunder tørnede flyet mod arbejdsmand L. Christensens hus, Stockholtevejen, Slaglille Mark, der brød i brand.
L. Christensen, hans kone og mor samt to børn omkom i huset. Familiens øvrige børn reddede sig ud af huset.

Af flyets rent polske besætning omkom 4 flyvere i flammerne, mens 2 overførtes til Ringsted sygehus. Her døde Sgt Kasprzak samme dag af sine stærke
forbrændinger.

Ved 3-tiden natten til den 18. september 1943 begravede tyske soldater de 5 dræbte flyvere på kirkegården, idet graver Chr. Hansen i nattens mulm og mørke var
blevet befalet til at udpege et egnet gravsted.

Sognepræst Svend Jacobsen blev bestyrtet, da graveren om morgenen meddelte ham, hvad der var passeret. Han skrev omgående et brev til Sjællands biskop og
klagede. Af hensyn til kirkebogsføringen ville sognepræsten gerne have oplyst, hvem der var blevet begravet på sognets kirkegård.

Søndag den 19. september samledes menigheden ved graven, hvor sognepræsten læste en engelsk og en romersk bøn, hvorpå han foretog jordpåkastelsen på
den blomstersmykkede grav.

Efter at sognepræsten, graveren og endnu 2 mænd fra sognet den 30. september havde åbnet graven og ordnet den, blev flyvernes lig den 8. november taget op
og lagt i kister. De nedsattes derpå i normal dybde. Denne begravelse blev bekostet af skibsreder A.P. Møller.

Fra Sjællands biskop fik sognepræsten i december 1943 navnene på de 5 begravede polske flyvere. Også de omkomne danskere ligger begravet på kirkegården.” (FAF)

Sgt Wladyslaw Barzdo PAF, Pilot F/Lt Wizenty Wasilewski PAF, Wireless Operator F/S Julian Michalski PAF og Air Gunner Sgt Wladyslaw Patlewicz PAF blev
begravet i Slaglille sammen med Flight Engineer Sgt Eugeniusz Kasprzak PAF, som døde på Ringsted Sygehus. (Kilde: AOD)

Fra HAL BB309 er 5 flyvere begravet i Slaglille. 1 krigsfange og 1 hjulpet til Sverige. 7 flyvere. Se 36 polske flyvere skudt ned over DK.

”On the night before 17 September, 1943 Halifax BB309 was on a SOE-operation to Poland, where 2 agents and containers with weapons were dropped.

During the return flight the plane was hit by a German night fighter and caught fire over Zealand. A little before 5 a.m. it had to make an emergency landing. It crashed against unskilled labourer L. Christensen´s house, Stockholtevejen, Slaglille Mark, which caught fire. L. Christensen, his wife and mother and two children perished in
the house. The rest of the children of the family managed to get out of the house.

Of the totally Polish crew 4 airmen perished in the flames, while 2 were transferred to Ringsted Hospital. Here Sgt Kasprzk died the same day from his severe burns.

At about 3 a.m. in the night to 18 September, 1943 German soldiers buried the 5 killed airmen in the churchyard. In the dead of night gravedigger Chr. Hansen had
been ordered to point out a suitable plot.

Vicar Svend Jacobsen was appalled, when the gravedigger in the morning told him what had happened. Immediately he wrote a complaint to the bishop of Zealand.
To keep the parish register correct the vicar would like to be informed about who had been buried in the parish churchyard.

On Sunday 19 September the congregation gathered at the grave, where the vicar read an English and a Roman prayer, after which he sprinkled earth on the
flower-decked grave.

After the vicar, the gravedigger and 2 other men from the parish had opened and tidied the grave on 30 September, the airmen´s bodies were taken up on 8 November
and laid in coffins. Then they were placed in the normal depth. This burial was paid for by shipowner A.P. Møller.

The vicar got the names of the 5 buried Polish airmen in December from the bishop of Zealand. Also the Danes who perished are buried in the churchyard.” (FAF)

Sgt Wladyslaw Barzdo PAF, Pilot F/Lt Wizenty Wasilewski PAF, Wireless Operator F/S Julian Michalski PAF and Air Gunner Sgt Wladyslaw Patlewicz PAF
were buried in Slaglille together with Flight Engineer Sgt Eugeniusz Kasprzak PAF who had died at Ringsted hospital. (Source: AOD)
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 2, Panel 260.

5 airmen from HAL BB309 were buried in Slaglille. 1 airman became a POW and 1 was helped to evade to Sweden.  See Halifax Print and Halifax - Bless 'Em All.
The names of the 5 perished airmen seen on the gravestone here and the cross here are also inscribed on the Polish War Memorial, Northolt in England.
See 36 Polish airmen shot down over Denmark * 35 Airmen shot down over Denmark on SOE Missions to Poland * Airmen 1946 * Loss of Lives
See also No. 138 Squadron RAF * RAF Tempsford * Roll of Honour, Tempsford * Tempsford Special Duties Squadrons * p223MACR 
Halifax II BB309 NF-T took off from RAF Tempsford at 18.29 on 16 SEP 1943, SOE Operation Neon 3. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.)  7 airmen.