Pawe "Gauka" Grabowsli
Polish Army 8th Unit of Gendarmerie
My grandfather, Pawe Grabowski was a member of 8th Unit of Gendarmerie which was located in Tczew, 40 km South from Gdansk, East Prussia (part of Poland today). He was captured by Germans on September 10, 1939 near Warsaw only a few days after WWII began. He was send to Stalag II A in Neubrandenburg from where he was released on November 12, 1940. We don't know much about this period of his life because he never talked about it.
Later he traveled to England where he became a driving instructor. Sometime during the war my grandmother got a note from the Red Cross informing her that my grandpa was killed in a bomb explosion while driving an army truck. She went on with two children. She spoke fluent German while living in East Prussia, which helped her to survive the war. She was surprised when, after the war, grandpa came back in one piece.
For many years grandpa's dog tag from Stalag II A has been hanging on my wall in Montreal, Canada but just lately my cousin in Poland (great granddaughter) found the paperwork corresponding to grandpa's dog tag on line. The original document is in the hands of POW Museum in Lambionowice-Opole, Poland.
We are so very proud of our grandfather and that is why we decided to share his story with the world.
