Ambassador
Witold Sobkow and Lady Fiona Fraser. Photo: Polish Embassy in UK
Peter
Fraser's widow Lady Fiona Fraser was presented with the the Knight¡¯s Cross of
the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by Ambassador Witold Sobkow at the
embassy in London.
¡°It¡¯s
a huge honour - our only regret is that Peter is not receiving it himself,¡± she
told Scottish paperThe
Courier.
¡°I
think he would be very proud of this honour but he probably wouldn¡¯t have
regarded his efforts as particularly outstanding.¡±
The
Scottish peer was an impassioned promoter of the legacy of General Stanislaw
Maczek, a tank commander who led the First Polish Armoured Division.
Maczek
helped win decisive Allied victories during Operation Overlord, the 1944 Battle
for Normandy, before liberating numerous towns in the lead-up to Germany's
capitulation.
He
ultimately became commanding officer of all Polish forces in the United Kingdom
until their demobilization in 1947.
However,
with a Soviet-backed communist regime installed in Poland, Maczek remained in
the UK alongside thousands of other veterans.
He
ended up working as a barman in an Edinburgh hotel, dying in 2004. Lord Fraser
successfully campaigned for a monument to be erected in the general's honour,
before dying suddenly in 2013 aged 68.?(nh)
