A scouting organisation which organised camping trips and survival training. The Young Eaglesīefore the war Ryszard had joined the Young Eagles. Warsaw was in ruins and their home was destroyed. They arrived in Warsaw a few days after the heavy bombing of the 25 September. They turned the cart around and headed back to Warsaw. Before they got there the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east on the 17 September. The family fled Warsaw on a horse drawn cart and headed for the Romanian border. German planes bombed Warsaw where he was living as a 13 year old with his parents.

Ryszard recalls the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939.

She started by asking him what his first memories of the war were. She had immersed herself in the history of Poland and World War 2 and had many questions to ask him. Rita arranged to visit her father at his home in Virginia. Rita asked herself what horrors had her father endured before he emigrated to America. The identity card had the name Ryszard Kossobudzki on it.

Rusted tags with a prisoner number from Stalag IV B.

She opened it and found it contained items belonging to her father. In doing so she came across an old battered tan suitcase which she had never seen before. Rita's mother died and it took Rita six years before she was able to sort through her mother's belonging.

For many years Rita had little or no contact with her father. On Christmas Eve 1983 Rita's father walked out on his wife, Rita and her brother. He had scars on his back, holes in his arms, slashes on his legs. 89 Books about Poland | Polish War Graves in Britainįor Rita Cosby her father was a mystery.

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