I once asked Jurek how he had arrived at Newcastle. He told me that he was at sea in the navy when Germany invaded Poland and they sailed into the nearest safe shelter which happened to be the Tyne and they hoped to be part of a Polish navy I do not know if that was ever organised or whether they were part of the British navy but they received a warm welcome on Tyneside.
When WW2 finished there was no country to go back to as it was now under Russian control and because of the friendliness of Tyneside he decided to stay in our part of the world.
In later life he went back to see family when it was safe but some of his family and friends were too cautious to return to Poland for a visit.
I was helping him to move from the old New Orleans Club to Forth Banks and he gave me a photograph of Melbourne St which I still have. I think that this was posted on BSH some time ago and I still treasure it. Bill Gallon
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Jurek once told me he served with the RN escorting the supply ships on the infamous Arctic convoys to Russia. I remember him saying that conditions during the winter were indescribable. I suppose he was lucky to survive.
I wouldn't recognise this place, as I never saw it in daylight.
Hey all ... jurek raczynski was my grandad .. I'm the daughter of young jurek. Lovely to hear a bit about him ..he was a lovely man 😍xx
And he was in the polish navy
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