President Andrzej Duda on Thursday visited the Veteran’s Centre for Operations Abroad, where he paid tribute to soldiers and military personnel killed in missions. “Today, we commemorate all our soldiers and military personnel who have fallen or died while carrying out missions abroad; it is an expression of gratitude and respect for those who are ready to give their lives to carry out the task properly”, the President stated.

President Andrzej Duda recalled that the Day of Remembrance for the Fallen and the Dead has been celebrated since 2015. He stressed that the holiday was established on the anniversary of 21 December 2011. On that day, during a mission in Afghanistan, five soldiers from the 20th Bartoszyce Mechanised Brigade were killed when an improvised explosive device exploded under their vehicle.

The dead were then junior warrant officer Maj. Piotr Ciesielski, Private Marcin Szczurowski, Sergeant Łukasz Krawiec, Sergeant Marek Tomala and Sergeant Krystian Banach. For their bravery and courage, they were posthumously awarded the Knight’s Crosses of the Order of the Military Cross and the Stars of Afghanistan by the President. The youngest of the soldiers was 22, the oldest 33. It was the most tragic day in the history of Polish missions.

“It is a day when we commemorate those five soldiers – heroes from the Bartoszyce brigade and all our soldiers and military personnel who died during the missions” he noted.

According to the president, it is an expression of gratitude and respect for those who are willing to give their lives to carry out their task properly.

“While representing Poland in missions, all the soldiers were at the same time building the brand of the Polish army and the Polish soldier in the world and with their heroism and steadfastness they represented us and built the brand of our country, not only defending, but also bringing support to people living thousands of kilometres away from their homeland”, said Andrzej Duda.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński