Meet the Kirkby great-grandfather who fought the Nazis during World War II

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A Kirkby great-grandfather who fought the Nazis after being forced from his home and used as a slave during the Second World War will attend a service to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Wladyslaw Nazar (known as Walter) was just a boy when he was taken from his home in Poland by German troops and used as slave labour in Germany and France.

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He worked in an ammunition factory and then as a farm labourer before being transferred to occupied France.

There, he helped build concrete bunkers used by German soldiers in their battles with Allied forces who landed on the beaches at Normandy in June 1944 to liberate Western Europe.

Walter Nazar from Kirkby.Walter Nazar from Kirkby.
Walter Nazar from Kirkby.

After escaping his captors, Walter joined local partisans attacking German patrols before joining an American combat division where he served as an ammunition carrier and later as an interpreter of prisoners of war.

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Now, 80 years later, Walter and his wife Judy will be guests of honour at a special service at St. Wilfrid’s Church, Kirkby, on Thursday, 6 June.

The 97-year-old, who has lived in Kirkby for more than 70 years, was only twelve when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939.

He vividly remembers the day he was forcibly taken from his hometown, which changed his life forever.

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Walter Nazar US Army.Walter Nazar US Army.
Walter Nazar US Army.

He said: “My mother sent me to buy some yeast from town, but German lorries pulled up and I was taken with other boys and old men.

“They took us to a railway station and put us on trains to Germany to a slave camp.

“We were treated terribly, had very little to eat and slept on straw.

“I was living with Russian and French prisoners of war.”

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Walter Nazar as a boy.Walter Nazar as a boy.
Walter Nazar as a boy.

After working at a German ammunition factory in Nuremberg, Walter worked as a farmhand before being relocated to France.

Walter was one of eight slave labourers who managed to escape, joining up with local partisan fighters in France.

“We were demolishing railway lines at night and hunting the Germans; they were hunting us. We needed their weapons and supplies.

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“One day we heard tanks but it was the American army,” said Walter.

During the war, American troops offered support to Walter.

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As a teenager, he became a part of the 1258th Combat Engineer Battalion Company B and accompanied the Allies as they advanced through France into Germany.

He formed a close bond with Master Sergeant Bill, who was originally from Scotland.

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“Bill was shot and killed by one of the Hitler youth, it was very sad,” Walter said.

After the war ended in May 1945, Walter remained with US forces in Nuremberg during the war crimes trials of Nazi leaders.

He later went to Britain with other eastern European exiles due to the rise of Communism and the Iron Curtain.

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Walter spent some time in Cambridge before moving to Nottingham, where he met his wife, Judy, in 1953.

The couple has been married for 66 years and has four children, seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

Walter has never received any official recognition for his wartime exploits because he was underage and did not have any official documentation of his time with American forces, aside from old photos.

What he witnessed as a young teenage boy has stayed with him forever. Walter said he still has nightmares to this day.

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