\nYour Royal Highness The Prince of Wales,<\/strong><\/em>
\nVeterans, military personnel<\/em>,<\/strong><\/p>\n
I\u2019m glad that we\u2019re all together here today;
\nYour Royal Highness, I know that your presence here today means a great deal to the veterans and military personnel from Poland.
\nWe have gathered here today to commemorate the courage of the men of the First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade.
\nSeventy-five years ago, they stood ready to jump, over Driel.
\nThose men had flown over the North Sea; they had waited days until they were finally able to get airborne.
\nAnd they already had a long journey behind them.
\nBecause they had been exiled, they had fled their country.
\nThey had reached England by way of such countries as Spain, Romania, Russia, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the United States.
\nAmong them were people who had been in the Soviet labour camps.
\nThey had made long and arduous journeys, they had endured cold, hunger and pain.
\nAll to be able to don the grey beret \u2013 to wear it into battle.<\/p>\n
They could never have imagined that their long journey would bring them here: in an aircraft over the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Their general, Stanislaw Sosabowski, had trained them for something else.
\nThey wanted to pay tribute to their fallen compatriots \u2026
\n\u2026who, earlier, in 1939, had fought so hard against the Germans.
\nNow, 5 years later, they wanted to help to liberate Warsaw.
\nBut they had received orders to take part in Market Garden.
\nAn operation that some regarded as ambitious and impressive.
\nAnd others \u2013 such as General Sosabowski \u2013 considered grotesque and dangerous.
\nBut whatever they thought of it, those Poles fought like lions.
\nAnyone who knows military personnel knows that their loyalty is beyond question.
\nThey do what is asked of them.
\nThey carry on when others stop.
\nAs Minister of Defence, I know that all too well.
\nAnd yet it never ceases to impress.
\nThose men were asked to fight for our freedom while the people of Poland were crying out for their help.
\nSome hoped that the jump from the aircraft, over a country more than 1000 kilometres from their motherland, would bring them a step closer to home.
\nMany of them just did what they were asked to do.<\/p>\n
Even though it was, as their general referred to it in secret, a leap of faith.
\nBecause they were not dropped at Elden, but at Driel;
\nThe ferry on which they were supposed to cross the Rhine had disappeared; when they tried to row across in rubber boats, they were shot at by the enemy.
\nNothing went according to plan, but the Polish men gave their all.
\nMen like Tadeusz Cisek.
\nHere with us today.
\nHe too was dropped in Driel on 21 September.
\nHe was in his early twenties.
\nA handsome young man, if the photos are anything to go by! J
\nTadeusz Cisek had also come a long way.
\nHe was deported to Kazakhstan in 1940 and was a prisoner in a Soviet camp.
\nFrom Russia, passing through countries such as Iran and Syria, he eventually reached England.<\/p>\n
Today, he is 96 years old.
\nAnd he is visiting these commemorations in the Netherlands for the first time.
\nIt was a long journey for him from his home in the United States.
\nCorporal Cisek, I thank you.
\nYou and your comrades from the brigade travelled a long road to fight for our freedom.
\nBut you have had to wait a long time for our formal recognition.
\nThe then Queen Beatrix awarded the Military Order of William to the First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade in 2006.
\nAnd the Bronze Lion, posthumously, to your General Sosabowski.
\nAt last, our lion embraced the Polish eagle.<\/p>\n
Corporal Cisek,
\nI am humbled by your courage and strength, and that of the two veterans next to you:
\nHenryk Kubinski and Konstanty Staszkiewicz.
\nWe will never forget our Polish friends.
\nMy own home town of Goor was also liberated by Polish troops, by the First Polish Armoured Division, on 8 April 1945.
\nI live near to the memorial.
\nAt commemorations such as today\u2019s, we are reminded of how much we owe to our allies for our freedom.
\nAnd that it is because of our alliance that we live in freedom today.
\nBecause unity deters.
\nThat is precisely why NATO maintains a strong presence in Poland and the Baltic states, with Dutch involvement too.
\nTogether we protect our freedom.<\/p>\n
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