SEROWKA, Marian
!st Polish Armoured Division
Marian Jan Serówka was born 13 May 1924 in Bydgoszcz, Poland, to Tomasz Serówka and Marta Marianna (nee Kania). He was the youngest of eight siblings: Wanda, Gertruda, Bernard, Alfons, Maria, Albina, and Alojzy. The family home in Bydgoszcz included a family-owned shop and post office.
Before the war, Marian attended Teachers’ College and a Private Men's College, but further education came to an abrupt end with the German occupation. Ten weeks after the German invasion, he started work at Technometal (Metals Warehouse) as a Shop Assistant.
In January 1943, he was forcibly conscripted into the Wehrmacht in Reich District Danzig, West Prussia. In August 1944, Marian escaped the German army and, like many Poles from captured or surrendered Wehrmacht forces, he enlisted in the 1st Polish Armoured Division and underwent training in Scotland. Marian joined the offensive against the Germans during the liberation of Belgium in the autumn of 1944.
In April 1945, Marian reached Meppen in Germany shortly before the Allied victory in Europe. He remained in Meppen for 2 years, as part of the Occupation Forces. He sailed to England in October 1947, where he enlisted in the Polish Resettlement Corps. Marian was a Corporal at the time that he was demobbed.
Polish Medals awarded: Krzyz Zaslugi z Mieczami (Cross of Merit with Swords), Krzyz Zaslugi - Brazowy (Bronze Cross of Merit), Medal Woiska (Army Medal).
British Medals awarded: France and Germany Star , 1939–1945 Star, War Medal 1939–1945
In 1948, Marian resided at Stockton House, in Codford, near Warminster Wiltshire, and worked in the maintenance of commercial greenhouses, painting and glazing at E. Galloway, Pecks Hill Nursery, Nazeing, Essex. He later resided at 'The Breaches Hostel', Galley Hill, Waltham Abbey, before moving to London.
On March 30, 1957, he married Joan Dobson in Islington, London, and they eventually raised 4 sons. In 1962, Marian visited family in Poland for the first time since he left in 1943. In 1970. He took the whole family to Poland to meet relatives there.
Marian died 25 Jan 1988 at age 63 in Orsett, Essex, England.
Copyright: Steve Serowka, Marian’s son