Edward Szarzynski Was Born on 19 June 1913 in Oberhausen, Germany, to Tadeusz Szarzynski. and Konstantia nee Tomaszewski. His family moved to Poland when he was 7 years old. He had difficulty at school because he did not know the language. In 1927, the family moved to Gdynia. His father owned a beer and lemonade factory there, and hoped his son would take over the company someday, but Edward was not interested.

 

Edward had fallen in love with a girl named Krystyna, and when he left Gdynia, he promised to come back to her. He made his way to France with one of his brothers. When the war broke out on 1 September 1939, Edward lost contact with his family.

 

Edward joined the Polish army that was formed in Scotland. He crossed to England from Bordeaux and made his way to Scotland. He served as a Corporal, in the Headquarters Communications Squadron of the 1st Polish Armoured Division.

 

Miraculously, he found both of his brothers in Scotland – Tadeusz (who had been captured by the Russians and sent to Siberia) and Karol (who had been forcibly conscripted into the German army.

 

In early August 1944, the division made its way to Normandy, where they fought at Falaise.  After Normandy they moved on to Belgium and then the Netherlands where they liberated Breda. Edward got out of his tank in Breda and he and Cornelia Embregts saw each other and it was love at first sight.

 

Edward had to move on with the division to liberate other parts of the Netherlands. He promised Corrie that he would come back. On 29 October 1945, exactly one year after the liberation of Breda, they were married even though the parents of Corrie were fiercely against the marriage. The wedding was held in the city hall of Breda, without the family, and with only one sister and a friend in attendance.

 

After the wedding they left for Germany, where he served with the occupying forces. Edward longed to go back to Poland, but his mother wrote not to do that since Poland was taken by the Russians, and he would be seen as a traitor and arrested. They remained in Germany until 1946. Meanwhile his father is was executed in Poland by the Russians on 6 August 1946.

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They returned to Breda in 1947, and Edward got a job at a beer brewery called de Drie Horseshoes. He was discriminated against in Breda. In those days there was a lot of unemployment, and he was seen as having taken the job of a Belgian. He missed Poland and his family and hen his mother died on 3 February 1947, Edward didn't eat for a week because of sadness.

 

After the war, his brothers and sisters lived in Poland, France, England, Germany and Austria. They wrote letters to each other for years. Edward and Corrie had 10 children. When he was sixty Edward visited Poland for the first time since the war. He learned that his first fiancée Krystyna had waited for him for 10 years before marrying someone else.

 

Edward passed away on 3 December 2009 in Breda.

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Source: 1st Polish Armoured Division Facebook post

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