After the tragic September 1939, many Polish soldiers and officers reached France and the United Kingdom. The total number of Polish Armed Forces in the UK at that time (according to General Marian Kukiel's report of 16 June 1940) was 27,614 officers, non-commissioned officers, soldiers and sailors. By the end of the year a further 2,500 servicemen had arrived from France. The army was also supplied by an evacuation action from the territories of Romania and Hungary, but this action had little effect.

In this situation, the only source of new soldiers for the rebuilding of the Polish Armed Forces was (following the example of 1917, when more than 20,000 volunteers from the American and Canadian Polonia joined General Haller's Blue Army (see: Haller's Cemetery in Niagara-on-the-Lake)) the creation of a military mission in Canada near the border with the United States. The choice was made between the home of the Polish Folk Home Association in Windsor as a recruitment centre and Owen Sound, Ontario, where the volunteers were trained.

Recruiting volunteers

The first propaganda trip to the United States was made in late 1939 by General Józef Haller himself. In turn, a special enlistment mission of Colonel Franciszek Arciszewski went to Canada in July 1940.

The commander of the Polish Military Mission was General Bronislaw Duch, who acted officially as the Commander of the Polish Troops in Canada and Representative of the Commander-in-Chief on the territory of Canada and the United States of America. In turn, Col. Stefan Sznuk became Chief, also responsible for the recruitment of airborne troops. In turn, kmdr Witold Zajączkowski was appointed Chief of the Maritime Mission.

"In the chronicle of the recruitment centre, which has survived to this day, the first entry appears under the date of 23 March 1941," writes Agata Rajski in her commemorative book 100 Years of Polonia in Windsor 1908-2008 , (Walkerville Publishing, Windsor 2008). We read further: "A few days before the assembly station in Windsor was set up, the first volunteers came forward: Jan Trzciński and Stanisław Domora (...) on 14 April 1941 - volunteer no. 3 - Chłędowski Edward was accepted".

In turn, Jan Barłóg, in his book Wspomnienia z mojego życia (Century Publishing Company Limited, Toronto 1985), mentions another volunteer: "The chief organiser of the National Union and one of the most dedicated members of our organisation, Jozef Gierada, went to Windsor to volunteer on 21 April 1941, in order to encourage others by his attitude and participation in the army and to document his service to Poland when it was in deep need."

Camp in Owen Sound

Unfortunately, despite many appeals, rallies, academies, and the publication of a magazine called "Odsiecz - Polska Walcząca w Ameryce", which featured the names and photographs of volunteers and profiles of soldiers, not many volunteers were found willing to join the Polish units.

A Kosciuszko Camp training camp was organised for volunteers at the Polish camp at Owen Sound in the north of Ontario. The organiser and commander was Colonel Arthur D'Orr LePan (1885-1976), who was born in Owen Sound, fought in the First World War and had previously been commander of the Polish Hallerian camp in Niagara on the Lake. According to local newspaper The Sun Times, quoting Lisa Marie Murphy-Gemmill, who researched the history of the camp, 1,036 soldiers passed through the site; in addition to Poles, there were Americans and Canadians of Polish descent, as well as three Czechs and... a Cuban.

The Polish officers were quartered in the homes of Owen Sound residents; the soldiers occupied the buildings of a furniture factory. After training, they were sent to the Canadian and American armies. "Between December 1941 and November 1942, after training, 903 people, including about 30 female volunteers and instructors, were sent to Great Britain in seven transports," assesses Prof. Anna Reczyńska in her book Stigma of War. Polonia kanadyjska wobec polskich problemów lat 1939-1945 (Wyd. Nomos, Kraków 1997). "It is worth noting additionally that after the liquidation of the Polish Military Mission in Canada, recruitment to the Polish Army was not stopped in this country. It was continued by the recruiting station left in Windsor. According to some sources, it accepted and sent to the UK 323 further candidates for soldiers."

Commemorative tree

Polish recruits who went to the front took part in the war effort and served in a wide variety of formations, with Canadian women volunteers being directed mostly to the air service and, after the formation of the Women's Auxiliary Air Service, to what was popularly known as the PSLK, which in time became part of the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force (hence the colloquial term for Polish women serving in the PLSK: waafki).

Not all, however, managed to return happily to their native home in Canada. Those who fell are often commemorated by special plaques in Polish churches, as is the case in Vilnius, Ontario, or Skaro, Alberta.

Private Victor M. Golas (1921-1962) of Zbaraż, Manitoba, was fortunate to have survived the turmoil of war. In time, he was so proud of his service in the Polish units that he asked that, after his death, his photo from the army be placed on a headstone in the cemetery in this tiny settlement on the Canadian prairies, where his father Thomas F. G olas (1886-1944), mother Vasilia (1891-1952 ) and sister Michalina (1920-1945 ) rest. Victor returned from the army in 1946. Unfortunately, neither the sister nor the father lived to see their son and brother return from the front.

After a year of operation, the Polish Military Mission in Canada was closed and the Windsor recruitment camp was finally decommissioned on 20 May 1944.

Today, one of the vestiges of the Polish Military Mission is the building where Polish soldiers were recruited and in Owen Sound the so-called "Polish Soldier's Tree" - an old beech tree, estimated to be about 150 years old, on which one of the recruits carved with a knife in the bark the words: "Poland is not yet lost, the Polish soldier will help" and the year: "1942".

The Polish Soldier Tree has been protected and is not only a Canadian natural monument, but also a historic site. It has been listed as a cultural heritage site in the province of Ontario.