I've been reunited with my long lost grandad 65 years after he died in Blackpool on Armistice Day 2026
“It seems to be that this was the right time, it feels like it's completing something.”
A Scottish woman has managed to trace her long-lost grandfather, a Polish war hero who died in Blackpool, visiting his graveyard for the first time to pay her respects on Armistice Day.
Linda Penn has managed to find out crucial information through The Gazette about her long-lost grandfather, Major Witold Åšwidas, Polish war hero who died in Blackpool. Linda, who has lived all her life in Scotland, says that the experience has been emotional but comforting.
Linda said: “About a year ago I started researching my mum's dad, my grandfather. He'd been a Polish soldier and my research showed me that he died in Blackpool, so his ashes were scattered at Carleton Crematorium.
“I also discovered in that search that he'd had a son, so he'd have been a half-brother to my mother. I noticed that he died when he was like nine years old, and he was sadly knocked over while he was cycling on his bike and he died.”
After learning this, Linda decided to place an advert in The Gazette, appealing for information about her grandfather and his son. To Linda's surprise, she got a response from Poulton resident Susan Fordham, who was in the same class as her grandfather’s son, Michael, at Claremont Primary School.
Linda said: “It was totally unexpected, but Susan had been in the same year as my grandfather’s son in primary school. She recognised the surname and sent me a class photograph. It was such a kind thing to do, and we really appreciate it, because now my mother has a photograph of a brother that she never knew.
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Linda was then able to work out that her grandfather died three years after Michael, and that both of their ashes had been scattered at Carleton Crematorium.
Major Witold Åšwidas fought in both WWI and WWII, leaving Poland for France with the Polish Army in 1939. When France fell to the Nazis in 1940, Witold fled to Scotland where he married Linda’s grandmother, who gave birth to Linda’s mother, Mary Halina Swinda, in 1942.
When Witold got divorced, he left Scotland and settled in Surrey, leaving behind Linda’s mother, Mary, when she was a young child. Witold then moved to Blackpool, where he remarried and had a son called Michael.
Linda chose to visit Carleton Crematorium today, where her grandfather’s ashes are laid, to pay her respects for the first time. She said the occasion was made all the more poignant as today coincides with both Armistice Day and Polish Independence Day. Today is also the anniversary of Witold’s death.
She added: “It seems to be that this was the right time, it feels like it's completing something. We're quite reassured because Carleton has done such a good job in preserving everything.
“Knowing their ashes are there, together, is quite comforting. We are going to make the trip down to visit again, and bring my mother next time, which will be really nice for her.”