--- In Kresy-Siberia@..., Anne Kaczanowski
<annekaczanowski@y...> wrote:
Just a tidbit of info some may be interested in knowing.
I am in London and have visited the Sikorski museum. In a book I
read somehere along the line, there was a story about how the flag
got hoisted on the capture of Monte Cassino hill. It wrote about
how the first soldiers who reached the top of the Monte Cassino
hill
had no official flag to hoist. They had cloth from the Red Cross
that they wrapped bodies in , and so they ripped a piece of this
red and white material and an ol' handkierchief and stitched
together a makeshift Polish flag to hoist on a pole on the hill.
Within hours apparently an official flag was hoisted but it was
this makeshift one that was the first Polish flag on the hill
marking its capture.
I never knew whether this was in fact true or just a great story.
Well it is true and the flag is on display at the museum.
It is triangular, less than 2 feet long with the red on top and a
tiny bit of white fabric on the material below it, white being
perhaps only an inch wide on the wide end. Then a light grey
handkerchief is stitched underneath the white with delicate
stitching of white thread. The flag is wider on the right and
pointed on the left. It was a sight to see and am happy the story
is true.
hania
For a picture of the Polish flag that was hoisted above the ruins of
Monte Cassino, see:
Bert Bakker
Nelspruit
South Africa
