Cenotaph honour for city royal navy officer

A PLYMOUTH officer from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose - with an incredible wartime family history - will lead the Royal Navy guard at this year’s Cenotaph Remembrance Sunday Service in London.

- By HERALD REPORTER

Lieutenant Commander Anna Sanocki’s grandfather was removed from his home in Nazi-occupied Poland, escaped from a labour camp, was wounded fighting for the partisans in former-Yugoslavia, and then joined the Allied Army in Italy.

After the Second World War and urged by his family not to return home, by then occupied by the Soviets, he settled in England where he met his future wife, a young woman called Ruby West who had served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.

While Remembrance is dedicated to those who lost their lives in both World Wars and other conflicts, Lt Cdr Sanocki said she would also remember the sacrifices made by her grandparents. She si “T think the longer I am in the navy, Remembrance seems to mean more to me every year. It's been 80 years since the end of the war and there are hardly any of the original heroes left, and so it's important that we do this.

“The world seems to be a bit of a mess at the moment, and we need to remember everything that everyone gave to try and stop this happening again. These people gave everything, and I think it’s important we remember that.”