I’m appealing for help with these photos.
can you identify Grandfather's Polish friend?
They were in amongst some family photos which I inherited and they show my grandfather’s Polish friend. His signature may read “Bronec” but I’m really struggling with the surname. It’s likely that he would have been in East Lothian in 1945. Does anyone know what his uniform is? There was an airfield fairly close to where my Grandfather’s farm was. Our mystery friend was home in Poland with his family in 1947, as per this family Christmas portrait which he sent. Doesn’t the little boy look smart and handsome in his formal suit?
a little message is written on the back
Any help would be gratefully appreciated! Thanks 🙂
My Polish friend Tadek reckons he’s 95% sure that the surname is Gasiorowski, so I’ll add the name into the post tags and get researching – any other contributions would be gratefully received! 🙂
Jo Graham
Images Past 
I can’t help you with Polish, but I love the family photo. The boy looks sweet and happy with eyes aglow. Mom looks not just unhappy but perhaps almost angry. With the war having just ended only 2 years before, perhaps she’s still struggling…. I hope someone else can help you with the Polish.
Thanks for your comment, Nancy – Mum does look a little fierce but life must have been hard for her with her husband away for so long. Hopefully someone will come along soon who recognises the Polish name.
Wish I could help . . . but I enjoy the story of the Polish friend.
I am sorry that i can’t help you at all, it would be so good to find out more about this Polish friend and his family.
Lovely old photos..your Grandfathers Polish friend has wonderful handwriting..but it is hard to read. So I am of no help. He appaently thought kindly of your Grandfather..they must have met somehow.
I loved the Christmas photo..I was quite taken with the Polish Ornaments on the tree..I collect them along with Shiny Brites..it was wonderful to see this old photo.
Good Luck with this blog! I really like old photos:)
The glass/frosted decorations on the tree remind me of the decorations we had too – shiny glass round and teardrop-shaped ones which would no doubt be banned these days due to Health & Safety, along with Shiny Brites! There are lots of old photos needing scanning in the box which might be of interest to you, so watch this space, and thank you for your comment 🙂 Jo
Wow, I hope someone can help with this, and I hope you post the results when they do. I would love to know more.
I am of Polish descent, but can’t figure this out, then again I never did learn the language. There are Polsih genelogical societies and I am sure you can find one on the web. He was obviously using a good quality fountain pen..
Thanks for all your comments so far, I’m astonished at so many responses – thanks, folks. Hopefully someone who knows a bit about Polish names will let me know and I can keep you all up to date with the news 🙂 Jo
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hi, me and my mum think it looks like Bronek Gasiarowski (Gąsiorowski).
sorry, i made mistake, should be Bronek Gasiorowski (Gąsiorowski)
Neither the mom nor the dad look happy but at least the little boy does.
Hope you find the name. It would be nice to know more about this family.
Hello Jo, thank you so much for visiting my blog and for your very kind words; I appreciate it.
I am a genealogist researching both my own and my husband’s family lines, I would have loved to have found a link to Scotland as I have a great love of Scotland but haven’t found any connection yet.
In Polish, it could be Franek (it is a nickname of Franciszek) or Bronek (Bronisław) Gąsiorowski
Regards