Polish Armed Forces Memorial inauguration ceremony—September 19th, 2009.

The Memorial was officially unveiled by HRH The Duke of Kent, KG at a ceremony on September 19th, 2009.

"I feel deeply honoured to have been asked to unveil the Polish War Memorial on September 19th, and thus to pay tribute to the gallant Polish men and women, both civilian and military, who gave their lives in World War II in the cause of freedom."

HRH The Duke of Kent, KG

Memorial photographs  © 2009 Jacek Korzeniowski

Polish Heritage Society UK
in conjunction with the
Embassy of the Republic of Poland

PHS Conference
“Major General S. Maczek: Assessment of
Leadership and Command 1939-1945”

at

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland
47 Portland Place, London W1B 1JH
8th October 2016

More information......

The eight famous World War Memorials dedicated to the mid-20th century warfare¹

LONDON 7th June, 2016 – The listing of the eight famous World War Memorials dedicated to the mid-20th century warfare now officially includes as the No.4, the Polish Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum.  “Wargaming” is a globally operating prestigious and well established website. They published ² their choice of the eight outstanding War Memorials.  Amongst their globally listed memorials, there is the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) Polish War Memorial in Alrewas as unveiled by HRH The Duke of Kent in September 2009. This monument took nearly 4 years to complete. The Committee took the whole responsibility for this difficult project.

Raising the money for the project at today’s value of over £1.500,000. Negotiating and selecting the relevant monument site at the National Memorial Arboretum. Selecting the concept design and choosing the figurative sculptor Robert Sobocinski. Commissioning the whole project and its all artistic and technical aspects including the organisation of the very complex 2009 unveiling ceremony with circa 4000 people, veterans and their families attending over the 2 day event   The late Dr Andrew Meeson Kielanowski KM was the deputy chairman and personal friend of Dr Mark Stella Sawicki MBE KM the Chairman who took the overall responsibility for the above project.  

Both Andrew and Marek were involved from the very first to the very last day of this initiative. In June 2012, HM Queen Elisabeth II, awarded Dr Mark Stella Sawicki the Order of MBE for this work. Both Andrew and Marek were, and in Marek’s case, he still is a Knight of Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) and the SMOM inscription still exists on the monument.  

A further 17 heritage projects have been completed by the Polish Heritage Society UK (PHS) since 2009.  More detailed information can be found on the PHS website: www.polishheritage.co.uk   

It may be of interest, that the battlefield computer modelling (Combat Information Value Modelling or CIVM) is one of Dr Stella-Sawicki scientific interests.  He is also a visiting Professor at UCL, and  he also read the Military Historian at the Buckingham University. “The Polish Allied Forces War Memorial Committee at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas worked for over 3 years to highlight the enormous contribution that members of the Polish Allied Forces made to victory over the German Nazi Forces within Allied Forces in Europe during the WWII,” said PHS UK Chairman Dr Marek Stella-Sawicki MBE KM.

1. Wargaming is an award-winning publisher, founded in 1998. Wargaming employs over 4,000 professionals across key regions such as North America, Europe, Russia, Asia and Australia. Currently, Wargaming is focused on its team-based MMO war series dedicated to mid-20th century warfare.  
2. See: www.wargaming.com