A final resting place for his father

Lakefield man travels to France for burial of veteran ace pilot

LAKEFIELD — Sunday will be an emotional day for a Lakefield man as he watches as his father, an ace Spitfire pilot, gets a proper burial exactly 75 years after being gunned down over the English Channel during the Battle of Britain.

Andrew Mulaney, 75, will fly out of Montreal on Thursday along with his son, daughter and a friend to France, where the special service will be held for his father, Lt. Tadeusz Stabrowski of the 308th Polish Fighter Squadron.

“It means an end … it’s going to give me a lot of closure,” said Mulaney, a 45-plus-year resident of Lakefield who was born in England in 1942 about five months before his father’s death.

Stabrowski, a veteran of 148 combat and operational missions, was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery on March 11, 1943, but managed to escape his sinking warplane.

A coast guard seaplane sent to save him arrived too late — his body washed up near the coastal community of Le Crotoy. It is believed he died of hypothermia.

The French servicemen who found his body buried the unknown Polish airman in a military cemetery, Mulaney said.

The grave was discovered in 2016 by forensic scientists from the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Poland, who have been working to identify soldiers.

After connecting with Mulaney, who did not take his father’s surname, the researchers compared the two men’s DNA.

Earlier this year, he learned it was a match — “amazing” news that thrilled the man who worked in the automotive industry, among other fields.

Mulaney credits his wife, who now lives in long-term care, for connecting the pieces to make everything possible. She communicated with a man who knew his father who then helped connect everyone involved.

“Nobody would have found out I was his son,” he said.

The comparative research was the result of co-operation between France’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Embassy RP in Paris, Pomeranian Medical University and aviation historians.

Stabrowski is the first Polish soldier armed forces in the west

identified by genetic methods by the Polish side, Dr. Andrzej Ossowski of the university’s forensic genetics unit of told Poland trending news website TECH2.

“It is very important for the families of victims, that we also remember about these victims and effectively lead to their finding and identification,” he wrote.

Stabrowski was posthumously awarded a Cross of Valour and a Pilot’s Field Badge and his name can be found on Bajan’s list of brave Polish pilots who fought in the Second World War. His squadron was one of several units to aid Britain during the Second World War.

Sunday’s commemorative service at Le Crotoy Cemetery will include local dignitaries, military members, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and a representative of the Polish Ministry of Culture.

Stabrowski’s tombstone has been restored to include his name.