John Ward (airman)
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John Ward, MC, (15 December 1918 – 29 August 1995) was a
Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...
in the Royal Air Force decorated twice for bravery. During World War II he was a member of a bomber crew shot down and taken
POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
but escaped and served as a BBC war correspondent behind enemy lines and fought with the Polish resistance
Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...
(Home Army) participating in the Warsaw Uprising in occupied Poland being wounded in action against the SS controlled German forces.


Early life

Ward was born in December 1918 the Kings Norton district of Birmingham and grew up in the nearby suburb of
Ward End Ward End is an area of Birmingham, England. It covers the area between Saltley, Hodge Hill and Stechford and includes Ward End Park, a public park that has been open for over 100 years. Ward End territory Pelham in Ward End joins with Alum R ...
where he was educated at the local council school.


Royal Air Force service

He joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1937 aged 18, as an
Aircraftman Aircraftman (AC) or aircraftwoman (ACW) is the lowest rank in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the air forces of several other Commonwealth countries. In RAF slang, aircraftmen are sometimes called "erks". Aircraftman ranks below leading ...
2nd class, to train for aircrew as a wireless operator/air gunner and by 1939 was serving with
No. 226 Squadron RAF No. 226 Squadron RAF was a unit of the British Royal Air Force that existed as a bomber squadron during the First and Second World Wars, and as part of the UK's nuclear ballistic missile force in the early 1960s. Squadron history First formed o ...
based at RAF Upper Heyford. On 2 September 1939 the squadron was part of the RAF contingent which moved to France ready for war. Under the Advanced Air Striking Force it was based at Rheims.


Prisoner of war

Ward was an
Aircraftman Aircraftman (AC) or aircraftwoman (ACW) is the lowest rank in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the air forces of several other Commonwealth countries. In RAF slang, aircraftmen are sometimes called "erks". Aircraftman ranks below leading ...
1st class and member of the crew of a No. 226 Squadron RAF Fairey Battle light bomber (serial number "K9183") on 10 May 1940 when it was shot down by the Luftwaffe during the
Fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...
. Tasked to bomb German troop convoys as they advanced south-west of Luxemburg, four aircraft from the squadron took off at 17:00 hours GMT from Rheims, Champagne. After locating a column of 30 to 40 vehicles they made several dive bombing attacks in the face of heavy defensive fire. They suffered one aircraft shot down in flames (K9183) and another which crashed after being badly shot up. All three crew of Ward's crew were taken prisoner wounded, although the fatally injured pilot died three days later. Ward was captured and held as a prisoner of war. He was at
Stalag Luft I Stalag Luft I was a German World War II prisoner-of-war (POW) camp near Barth, Western Pomerania, Germany, for captured Allied airmen. The presence of the prison camp is said to have shielded the town of Barth from Allied bombing. About 9,000 ...
near Barth, Western Pomerania in December 1940 before being moved to an unnamed labour camp in Upper Silesia in January 1941. At the end of March 1941 he was sent to a labour camp near Lissa in Poland.


Escape and the Polish resistance

On 17 April 1941, Ward was with a working party of twenty prisoners supervised by two German soldiers when he hid, changed into civilian clothes and escaped. At Gostyn he was arrested in the railway marshalling yards and taken to the police station where he escaped through a window at night. In six days Ward travelled to Sieradz where he was directed to the local Roman Catholic priest who provided an introduction to the Polish Home Army. On 30 April 1941, he was taken by train to Lodz. At the end of May Ward was taken by bus to Warsaw. The plan had been to get Ward across the border to the Soviet Union but when the Germans invaded it in June 1941 that became impractical. Ward met Otto Gordzialowski, a lawyer who ran an underground newspaper called ''Dzien'', and worked for him transcribing British Broadcasting Company (BBC) radio broadcasts for translation into Polish for the newspaper. In September 1941, the Gestapo located the newspaper and captured the printers and distributors but failed to catch Gordzialowski or Ward. During 1942 Ward began to build wireless receivers and transmitters which were supplied to Polish resistance groups. In June 1942, he opened his own newspaper, the ''Echo'', and after building it up passed it to the ZWZ organisation in February 1943. During this period he trained a number of Poles as radio operators. Operating with the Polish resistance, he was tasked with facilitating communication between the British government and the Polish underground. From 1941 to 1945 Ward was the communications liaison between the British government and the
Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...
(Polish Home Army); he also worked as a war correspondent for the '' London Times'' including over two years in occupied Warsaw.


Warsaw uprising

He joined the Polish Resistance in August 1944 when the Warsaw Uprising broke out and was recruited by Stefan and Zofia Korbonski to prepare English dispatches that were transmitted to London via Morse Code. He prepared 64 eyewitness reports of the fighting as a war correspondent (behind enemy lines) for London's '' The Times''. Ward participated in the clandestine activities of the Polish resistance movement's "Błyskawica" (Lighting) radio station during the uprising, airing the English-language broadcasts, in addition to contributing over 100 reports. He spoke Polish with a heavy accent. Despite the risk of execution if he was captured Ward wore the red and white armband and the Polish cap eagle of the Polish Home Army. He was wounded in action in the thigh by mortar shrapnel; the Polish force decorated him with the Cross of Valour for his bravery, awarded personally by General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski. Ward fought with the Polish resistance after the uprising until the end of the war and continued to be promoted by the Royal Air Force on a regular basis achieving the rank of Warrant Officer. Ward was promoted to commissioned rank in the Polish Home Army and General Bor-Komorowski arranged for his movement from Warsaw to Kielce for evacuation by air as the uprising ended on 4 October 1944 with the Polish Home Army survivors going into German captivity. He maintained contact with
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Michael Pickles, the Head of
SOE SOE may refer to: Organizations * State-owned enterprise * Special Operations Executive, a British World War II clandestine sabotage and resistance organisation ** Special Operations Executive in the Netherlands, or Englandspiel * Society of Opera ...
Polish Section.


After the uprising

Ward left Warsaw heading for
Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...
and
Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank ...
but his train was stopped by German police and posing as a Pole he was sent back to Czestochowa labour concentration camp. Ward escaped from Czestochowa with help from a German guard bribed with US dollars and joined the 7th Polish Partisan Division serving with them until December 1944. He travelled to
Raszków Raszków (german: Raschkow; 1939-1945: Raschkau) is a town in Ostrów Wielkopolski County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,043 inhabitants (2004). Notable residents *Berthold Kempinski (1843-1910), German hotelier * Anna Jasińska (1 ...
and avoided the initial wave of Soviet Red Army troops who committed serious atrocities on the Polish civil population on 18 January 1945, arresting all educated Poles and anyone suspected of being with the Polish Home Army. On 20 January 1945, a Soviet NKVD Secret Police officer questioned Ward having learned that he was English. He was ordered not to move but on 1 February 1945 with Mrs Gordzialowski he travelled to Kielce where he sent a radio message to London and then continued on to
Podkowa Leśna Podkowa Leśna (literal meaning – "Forest Horseshoe", in full: ''Miasto-ogród Podkowa Leśna'' – "Garden-City Podkowa Leśna") is a town in Grodzisk Mazowiecki County, Masovian Voivodeship of Poland and located within the territory of the ...
where he contacted General
Leopold Okulicki General Leopold Okulicki (noms de guerre ''Kobra'', ''Niedźwiadek''; 1898 – 1946) was a general of the Polish Army and the last commander of the anti-Nazi underground Home Army during World War II. He was arrested after the war by the Sovi ...
"Kobra" (Cobra), then head of the Polish Home Army. Ward returned to Warsaw on 5 March 1945 and reported to the Soviet occupation commandant but was immediately arrested, interrogated and put in a cell. On the morning of 6 March 1945 Ward left his cell pretending to be an official and after speaking to the guard in fluent Russian, walked away. Some Frenchmen directed him to an American captain who provided assistance. Ward joined a party of British and American former prisoners of war for repatriation, bound for
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
. He sailed from there aboard the ''Duchess of Bedford'' on 14 March 1945. For his continued bravery serving with the Polish Home Army he was awarded the Military Cross, and the Krzyż Walecznych. His detailed despatches are available online.


Post-war

Ward was commissioned
Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...
in the Admin and Special Duties Branch of the Royal Air Force on 1 January 1946, and from 1 July 1946 held the rank of Flying Officer. He was promoted Flying Officer on 1 November 1947. He died on 29 August 1995 in London.


Awards

* Military Cross awarded on 31 August 1945 as Warrant Officer (service number 542939) Royal Air Force formerly of
No. 226 Squadron RAF No. 226 Squadron RAF was a unit of the British Royal Air Force that existed as a bomber squadron during the First and Second World Wars, and as part of the UK's nuclear ballistic missile force in the early 1960s. Squadron history First formed o ...
. * Krzyż Walecznych Polish Cross of Valour.Bor-Komorowski (2010), p. 351


See also

*
Błyskawica radiostation The Błyskawica radio station (''"Lightning" radio station'') was an insurgent radio transmitter broadcasting from Warsaw during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, since 8 August 1944 until the end of the struggle. The transmitter was constructed by An ...


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *


External links

* Kamil Tchorek
Escaped British Airman Was Hero of Warsaw Uprising
Reprinted from 1 August 2004, ''Times Online'', on the pages of
Warsaw Uprising Museum The Warsaw Rising Museum ( pl, Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego), in the Wola district of Warsaw, Poland, is dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The institution of the museum was established in 1983, but no construction work took place for m ...

Short bio, recorded transmissions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, John 1918 births 1995 deaths British escapees British World War II prisoners of war Military personnel from Birmingham, West Midlands Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Warsaw Uprising insurgents World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Recipients of the Military Cross