Stanisława Kosińska

Stanisława Józefa Kosińska née Sumek was born on 3 May 1906, to Jan Sumek and Tekla née Prymak, at Olesko in Galicia, at the time under Austrian occupation, subsequently in the Złotów county of the Tarnopol province in pre-WWII Poland (now in Ukraine). The family ran a farm, while the father also owned a construction company, involved, among other things, in restoration of listed buildings (including the castles at Olesko and Podhorce). Stanisława had four siblings: brothers Władysław and Stanisław, and sisters Klementyna and Maria.

By 1923, Stanisława Sumek had completed four years of junior high school and two years of trade school in Lwów (now Lviv in Ukraine). She started professional work in 1932 as a cashier with the Municipal Authority at Olesko.

She married Wiktor Kosiński on 24 February 1938, changing her name to Kosińska. Shortly before the outbreak of WWII her husband was called up to serve with the 6th Air Regiment in Lwów. He took part in the 1939 Polish campaign. He evaded captivity, but some time after the cessation of hostilities, while attempting to cross illegally the Romanian border, he was arrested by the NKVD and incarcerated in a gulag camp. Following the partition of Poland by the two occupiers: the Third Reich and the USSR, Olesko was incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Stanisława Kosińska moved to live with her mother Tekla, as did her sister Maria. Their father, Jan Sumek, was arrested by the NKVD and detained in a prison at Złoczów. About 20 June 1941, during the so-called 4th wave of deportations of Polish citizens into the USSR, Stanisława, Maria and Tekla were expelled from their home and sent by rail to southern Kazakhstan, where they were forced to work at a cotton plantation.

Following the signing of the Sikorski-Maisky pact on 30 July 1941, and the so-called amnesty for Polish citizens, Stanisława with her mother and sister were released. They reached, as civilians, one of the centres of the Polish Army then forming in the USSR. It is known that from 5 August 1942 they lived at the Yangi Yul military camp in Uzbekistan, and during late August/early September 1942 they were evacuated with the Polish Army from Krasnovodsk in the USSR to Iran (across the Caspian Sea). From 8 September 1942, they lived in Tehran.

They left Iran on 27 February 1943, on a British ship, going to India. They then stayed there for about six months with a large group of Polish refugees (mainly women and children). They lived for a while in Karachi (now in Pakistan), where Tekla Sumek died due to exhaustion from the previous stay in the Soviet Union.

In the second half of 1942, Stanisława Kosińska was transferred to Africa with other Polish refugees. She lived in one of the camps established for the Poles in Tanganyika, Uganda, Kenya, Rhodesia, and South Africa. While there, she was notified that her husband, who had been listed as missing in the USSR, has joined the Polish Army there and subsequently transferred to the Polish Air Force in Britain. Kosińska volunteered to join military service and embarked for Britain in early 1944.

Upon arrival in Britain, she was posted to a camp at Redcar on 13 March 1944, where she joined the Polish WAAF on 24 March 1944, receiving service number 2792302. On 25 May 1944, she was transferred to an initial training course at RAF Wilmslow. Upon completion of this, on 19 June 1944, she was given the trade of Clerk, General Duties and on 29 June 1944, she was posted to No. 16 (Polish) Service Flying Training School at Newton. This was a training establishment for Polish single- and twin-engined pilots, and its staff consisted of Polish Air Force personnel.

On 22 October 1946, Kosińska was transferred to No. 1 Polish Resettlement Unit at Cammeringham and upon disbandment of the exiled Polish AF she joined the Polish Resettlement Corps. She was demobilised on 19 February 1947, with the RAF rank of Leading Aircraftwoman and Polish AF rank of starszy szeregowiec (equivalent to Aircraftwoman 1st Class). She was decorated with the Polish Air Medal and British campaign medals.

Kosińska and her husband settled in Nottingham. Their only daughter Barbara was born in 1948. After the child was born, Kosińska no longer worked professionally, becoming a housewife.

LACW Stanisława Kosińska died on 9 June 1988 in Nottingham, aged 82. She was buried at the Southern Cemetery there.

Wojciech Zmyślony
(translation by Wojtek Matusiak)