In September 1939, Flight Lieutenant Mieczysław Głód, together with part of the 4th Training Squadron of Observers from the Air Force Cadet School, was taken prisoner by the Germans, but managed to escape. He then made his way to France, and subsequently to the United Kingdom, where he was assigned to the 10th Air Observer School of the Royal Canadian Air Force (AOS RCAF). Major Andrzej Markiewicz, an observer, made his way to France after the September 1939 campaign, and then to Great Britain, where he was also assigned to the 10th AOS RCAF.
The school in question was one of 10 training centres established in Canada between 1940 and 1941. Their purpose was to train navigators, bomb-aimers and aerial observers for the Allies.
On 7 May 1943, M. Głód and A. Markiewicz were carrying out a joint night training flight. As a result of a navigational error, the aircraft crashed in the mountains, approximately 13 km west of the town of Port Elgin. Both pilots were killed.
Their graves are located in Moncton at St Bernard’s Roman Catholic Cemetery on Shediac Road. Their rectangular headstones bear inscriptions in Polish, and above them is engraved the Military Pilot’s Badge, known as the ‘Gapa’. The inscriptions read: “R.I.P. / Second Lieutenant – Observer / Mieczysław Glod / Polish Air Force / 8 May 1943 / May he rest in peace” // “In memory of / Major – Observer / Andrzej Markiewicz / Polish Air Force / 8 May 1943 / May he rest in peace”.
The war graves in this cemetery are under the care and management of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). Information about the cemetery, including a list of those buried there (of various nationalities) and photographs of the cemetery, can be found on the website https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2080041/moncton-shediac-road-catholic-cemetery/.

Regina Piątek (MKiDN), Teresa Zachara (MKiDN)