by Roberta McGee
Kasimierz (aka Kazik) Edward Parol was a Military Policeman at Pennylands Camp. He was born in 1926 in Trabki, Warsaw. Trabki was a small village with a glass factory. In 1940, when Kazik was 14 years old, he worked for his brother-in-law and one day, after finishing work, he and his cousin were snatched by the Germans and sent to Germany to work. They both escaped from Germany and went over the Alps into Switzerland where they were interned because they had no papers. They escaped from Switzerland into France and Kazik joined the Polish Army. He was only a young boy at the time.
Kazik’s parents were Yana (Jan) Parola and Heleny Pilkour. Jan was born 1891 and died 1945 while Heleny was born 1891 and died 1956. Presumably in Poland.
Kazik met his future wife Elizabeth (Betty) McBride Ruddie at a local dance. Betty's father was Thomas Ruddie who was born in 1897 in Glasgow. Thomas's father was born in Ireland. Thomas died 19/11/1975 in Auchinleck. Betty's mother was Jeanie McCulloch who was born in 1902 and died 31/7/1965 in Auchinleck. Kazik and Betty were married on 12th June 1947 at the Barony Church Hall, Auchinleck.
The first Polish soldiers to arrive in Pennylands were older and very mannerly. The second lot of Polish soldiers to arrive were a different generation. They were younger, boisterous, lacked the manners of the older Polish soldiers and were troublemakers. They were not as popular with the villagers as the older men were. Kazik's job was to keep them in line.
Their unpredictability was proven at Kazik and Betty's wedding reception at the Barony Hall where things didn't go quite as planned. Three soldiers were heard arguing in the toilets there when one decided to shoot the other two. The result was that the wedding reception came to an abrupt halt before it even got started. The two wounded soldiers were taken to hospital and while this was happening the caterers took away all the food that Betty's grandfather had paid for. Here is Betty's story in her own words.
Many of the Polish soldiers, like Kazik, married and settled down with local girls but not all had happy endings. One friend of theirs, a Polish soldier, Zygfryd Nowak, would visit them but one evening after having supper with the family Zygfryd returned to Pennylands Camp and shot himself. Back home in Poland he had watched from a hiding place the Germans bringing his mother, father and brothers out of their house into their backyard and shooting them. He had nothing to go back to Poland for so he ended his life in Auchinleck. He died of gunshot wounds to the heart at Pennylands Camp on 22nd May 1945. He was the first Polish soldier to be buried in Auchinleck Cemetery.
Another two Polish soldiers from Pennylands Camp, Feliks Mirek and Rajmund Zielinski, who ate, against Kazik's advice, poisoned mushrooms, died in Ballochmyle Hospital in October 1947. They are buried in Cardonald Cemetery.
Kazik, who worked as a crane driver, and Betty had a long and happy life in Auchinleck, raised a family there and made trips back to Poland to visit Kazik's relatives.
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