Polish general in unmarked Kirkcaldy grave to get a headstone

A forgotten Polish war hero who was buried in an unmarked grave in Kirkcaldy is to finally have a gravestone.
General OsikowskiGeneral Osikowski
General Osikowski

Polish army General Mikolaj Osikowski died in 1950 and was laid to rest in a spot which had no marking.

However, after an extensive campaign to rectify this, an unveiling ceremony will be held this weekend.

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The ceremony will be the culmination of efforts by Fife Council and the Polish Consulate in Edinburgh to mark the resting place of General Osikowski, who fought in the famous 1920 Battle of Warsaw, which saw Poles stop the spread of the Bolshevik revolution to the West.

Gen Osikowski retired from military service in 1923 and lived in Lithuania until the Second World War forced him to flee to the West.

Unable to return to his homeland, he eventually came to Scotland, settling in Dysart, and living on Cook Street until he died in 1950.

Present at the ceremony on Saturday will be the Provost of Fife, councillor Jim Leishman, Lord-Lieutenant of Fife Robert Balfour, Ambassador of Poland Arkady Rzegocki, Consul General of Poland in Edinburgh Ireneusz Truszkowski, Piotr Całbecki, Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian region of Poland (part of which was defended by Gen Osikowski during the Battle of Warsaw), representatives of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, Vice-Chairman Jan Baster and Section Director Adam Siwek, along with the family of Gen Osikowski.

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