He proposed to have the plaque dedicated to the fallen servicemen made and award Honorary Citizenship for all other ones. The political association called Civic Forum was addressed by him and Mrs Kramenic´s suggestion was nodded by the Chocen Local Council at once. He was tasked to be in charge of the matter. Data of the five above mentioned servicemen were collected by Mr Kramenic for Honorary Citizenship Award. Assisted by the staff of the Orlicke Museum these were used for an „ Our men in arms in England“ exhibition opened in the Museum on Sep 8, 1990. One could see documents, http://www.svazletcu.cz/images and various personal items had by all the servicemen who took part in the campaigns.
There had been a plaque dedicated to the Czechoslovak Legionaries situated near the first entrance to the Elementary School. The plaque to these five ones was to be placed at the second entrance, so after approval of the Chocen Local Council Mr Kramenic took measures of the existing plaque including size of the letters. He made plywood models of the letters, their plaster moulds and put them on a wooden board. This model of the plaque was handed to an iron founder Mr Bohac and though ninety kg of copper, brass and bronze was handed to him, the amount collected by both individuals and companies was not sufficient and Mr Bohac added some of his own.
The plaque should have been unveiled on Oct 28, 1991, on the seventy third anniversary of Czechoslovak Republic´s coming into existence. But casting the plaque of such dimensions proved to be out of question in this small iron-foundry so tha model had to be halved. That reason for the date of the Unveiling Ceremony was postponed to Nov 17, 1991 and the event was much by local press.
The Ceremony had to be cancelled because the plaque had not been casted till the date. Weeks passed, promisses were repeatedly made by Mr Bohac but in vain. After the next one of completing the plaque to the date of Apr 15, 1992 was not kept, the Mayor of the town of Chocen Mr Culik visited the iron founder in person and made him pledge to hand the work on May 4 and the Unveiling Ceremony was scheduled for May 8, VE Day. Both the halves of the plaque were welded together in the Chocen Machine Works and delayed by two days the plaque was placed on the wall on May 7.
Nice weather on that day contributed to success of the Unveiling Ceremony in dignity. It was attended as by the RAF vets Josef Ščerba Antonin Vendl and Jaroslav Hofrichter, a member of the Potash Secret Agent Group Oldrich Pelc as by families of all the fallen servicemen including a brother of Jaroslav Matousek, anephew of Rudolf Skalicky Mrs Vlasta Koditkova and a nephew of Miroslav Rocovsky Mrs Hana Vonavkova with families. Col. Karel Seda was deprived of his presence due to his poor health and passed away on Jun 15, 1992. The Ceremony set example to other local authorities as well as associations and individuals in the Region.
Though being in charge of the matter alone, Mr Kramenic was given a hand anywhere he asked for. Collecting the data, he co-operated with Cols Alois Šiška, Karel Šeda, Antonín Vendl, Josef Ščerba, Jaroslav Konopický and Oldrich Pelc.
All the pictures below courtesy Mr Kramenic.
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Both Matousek and Skalicky served with Cz No 311 Bomber Sqn, Rocovsky with British 501 Fighter Sqn, Jirasky with Cz Armoured Brigade. SNP stands for the Slovak National Uprising – Aug 29 – Oct 25, 1944. |
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L to R : Mayor Culik, vets Cols Antonin Vendl, Josef Scerba, Jaroslav Hofrichter and Mr Zdenek Kramenic |
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L to R : Cols Jaroslav Hofrichter, Josef Scerba, Jaroslav Vendl, Oldrich Pelc |
NOTES :
- Jaroslav Matousek met his death in England
- a W/OP F/O Josef Scerba was a Rudolf Skalicky´s crewman on KX-B last
sortie.
- Rudolf Skalicky got drowned in the North Sea, his name is seen on No 52
panel of the Runnymede Memorial
- Miroslav Rocovsky perished over the Channel, no known grave, his name
seen on No 92 panel of the Runnymede Memorial
- Josef Jirasky was killed in France 1944
- Josef Kramar during the Slovakian National Uprising in the autumn of 1944