Bomber Command Memorial Ceremony
In the foreground Richard Kornicki, Chairman of the Polish Air Force Memorial Committee, laid a wreath in memory of Polish bomber crews. Photo courtesy Jerzy Kapszewicz.
Former 300 Polish Bomber Squadron air gunner W/O Jan Black Stangryciuk and Guinea Pig Club member, now in his 102nd year. Photo courtesy Jerzy Kapszewicz.
Former 300 Polish Bomber Squadron air gunner W/O Jan Black Stangryciuk, now in his 102nd year, at the reception afterwards entertaining actress Sue Holderness, whose father was in Bomber Command. Photo courtesy Jerzy Kapszewicz.
In the foreground Richard Kornicki, Chairman of the Polish Air Force Memorial Committee, laid a wreath in memory of Polish bomber crews. Photo courtesy Jerzy Kapszewicz.
30 June 2023
Bomber Command Memorial Ceremony
The annual Memorial service to RAF Bomber Command was held on Sunday 25 June at the Bomber Command Memorial in London's Green Park on the south side of Piccadilly and close to Hyde Park Corner. The ceremony, organised by the RAF Benevolent Fund, was very well attended by Bomber Command veterans and their descendants and included former 300 Polish Bomber Squadron air gunner W/O Jan Black Stangryciuk, now in his 102nd year. 300 Squadron was one of the four Polish Air Force (PAF) bomber squadrons under the operational control of RAF Bomber Command which also included 301, 304 and 305 Squadrons.
Tributes were led by Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the newly appointed Chief of the Air Staff. Among the representatives of allied air forces operating in Bomber Command were Colonel Michał Sprengel, Defence Attaché at the Polish Embassy and Richard Kornicki, Chairman of the Polish Air Force Memorial Committee (PAFMC), laying wreaths in memory of Polish bomber crews.
The Bomber Command Memorial, unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 June 2012, the year of her Diamond Jubilee, is a tribute to the 55,573 Bomber Command aircrew from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Czechoslovakia and other allied countries, as well as civilians of all nations, who lost their lives in the Second World War.
The RAF Benevolent Fund is the custodian of the Memorial, and is responsible for the Memorial's maintenance and upkeep in perpetuity. The RAF Benevolent Fund incorporates the Benevolent Fund of the former Polish Air Force Association, whose designated successor is the PAFMC.