World War One – a sacrifice never to be forgotten

The fourth of August will mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War One. The world was a very different place with Poland not even on the map of Europe. A proud independent, free Poland only emerged from the ashes of the war. But that did not mean that the Great War, as it became known, did not impact on what is today Polish soil.

Bitter battles were fought not only on the Western Front in France and Belgium but also on the Eastern front. So the Germans built POW camps in former East Prussia. These mostly housed Russians but also many other nationalities, including Poles. In 1918, British POWs were brought to a camp at Heilsberg, now Lidzbark Warmiński.

39 of them, brave young men who had been fighting for their country, for freedom and for a better future, died while imprisoned there. One such was Private Frank Bower. He was called up in April 1917 at just 18 years of age and joined the 22nd Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers and probably became a prisoner when his casualty clearing station was overrun by the Germans at the Battle of Lys and who was moved to Heilsberg in October 1918, where he died just after his 19th birthday.  Another was Private Gordon Jones who died just after the Armistice.

A year ago, I visited the cemetery, which is located in a tranquil forest setting. It had benefited hugely from the care and attention of the local authorities and volunteers, but still required a lot of work to create a site to commemorate the Heilsberg 39. Last Friday, I returned to participate in the rededication of the war cemetery, after fantastic work by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, supported by the local authorities.

The 39 are now properly commemorated with headstones and a place of remembrance. What made the day especially moving was the chance to meet two of Private Gordon Jones’s nephews, Owen and John. They told of how Gordon Jones is still remembered 96 years later in his Welsh village and how he would have been able to see from his house there a single lonely Scots pine. Today, Private Jones can see the same kind of tree from his last resting place.

We remember the sacrifice of the Heilsberg 39 and their comrades. They died far from home serving their country and fighting for freedom. The sacrifice of these men has not been forgotten after the passage of 100 years and will still be remembered 100 years from now. It was fitting that a young Polish schoolgirl recited Flanders Fields from memory. Living in peace is a precious gift. We must always recall the sacrifices of those who fought for it.