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Leokadia MASLANKA

Women's Auxiliary of the Polish
Air Force in the UK

Leokadia was born in Wolafka, Poland, on 15 February 1926, to Jan and Natalia Butrymowicz.

In February 1940, Leokadia and her family (her mother, father, and siblings Jan, Zofia, Helena, Janina and Karolina) were forcibly taken from their home by the Russians, and transported by boxcar to the USSR, where they were forced labourers for the next 18 months.

Amongst this difficult and most traumatic unfolding, invoked by the horror of war and mercilessly imposed upon their life's journey, Leokadia and family experienced the tragic loss of Janina (1934 to 1941) and Karolina (1936 to 1942), and the separation from the family of Helena (1933 to 199?), who remained captive in the Soviet Union until her passing.

When ‘amnesty’ was declared in July 1941 for the Polish captives in the USSR, the remaining family members made their way to the southern USSR to find the Polish army that was being formed there, With the army, they evacuated to Persia (now Iran). From there, they went to a Polish settlement in Africa, where they remained for the rest of the war, joining Leokadia in England at war’s end.

In 1944, Leokadia volunteered to join the Women’s’ Auxiliary of the Polish Air Force in the UK, and sailed to Britain with other volunteers from the Polish settlements in Africa. After months of training, she was given the rank of aircraft-woman first class and worked at servicing aircraft as a flight mechanic of air-frames. She was awarded the British War Medal and Polish Air Force Medal

In 1946, Leokadia met and married Michael, who also served in the Polish Air Force as a flight sergeant and was also stationed at the Hucknall R.A.F. in Nottingham. After they were both demobilized, they emigrated to Winnipeg in Canada.

Leokadia was a successful homemaker and gardener, and an especially talented cook who excelled at making traditional Polish dishes and baked goods. She loved special occasions at the family home such as Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving, where her family and her sister Zofia's family would congregate around a table filled with a bountiful feast.

Leokadia passed away in Winnipeg on 22 November 2017, at the age of 91 years. She was buried at the Assumption Roman Catholic Cemetery.

Copyright: Maslanka family

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