Medal not only for swimming

My family treasure is a commemorative medal for swimming the English Channel, from 1970. The English Channel is a strait separating England from France, and at its narrowest point is 32 km. This is a very long distance to swim, and due to weather conditions, sea currents and waves, it can stretch even to 50 or 60 km. Swimming the Channel is an extreme athletic feat, comparable to a marathon. Sometimes it was undertaken by individual swimmers, sometimes by swimming teams in a relay race. Our medal bears the title Channel Swim Team and the abbreviation A.S.T., for Association of Swimming Therapy. This is an English association that has been active for many years supporting people with disabilities in swimming activities. Does this mean that someone in my family gained such a great athletic achievement and was also disabled?

I found this medal in an old metal box, that is branded with Polish famous chocolate factory logo: “Wawel – The Royal Taste”, along with military decorations from World War II. It turned out that these were souvenirs belonging to my great-grandmother Anna's brother, stored in this unusual way in our family home. It is a true treasure chest!

I learned from my father that the owner of these treasures was our ancestor, Teodor Wojciech Hoffmann, codenamed "Bugaj." I was surprised by how much Wikipedia had written about him. He was a war hero, one of 316 soldiers from the elite “Cichociemni” unit, who were parachuted into various sabotage operations in occupied Poland during the World War II. Uncle Wojtek, as he is known in the family, was a communications officer in the Home Army (in Polish: Armia Krajowa), trained for special duties by the Special Operations Executive mainly in Scotland. He spent four years during World War II in Great Britain, and in 1944, during a military operation in Poland, he was wounded in the leg. He remained incapacitated for the rest of his life. For his wartime heroism, he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari, which is kept by my father's uncle, who lives in Canada. I got the photo of this military decoration from him, via e-mail.

After the war, Wojtek emigrated to London in 1965, where he lived for the last decade of his life. During the communist era, Home Army soldiers were persecuted by the Polish Security Service (SB). Uncle Wojtek, working as an architect in Warsaw, also encountered problems with the SB, but he never agreed to collaborate. It must have been a very difficult and unpleasant experience for him and other Home Army soldiers. For this reason, he moved permanently to England. He joined the ranks of political emigrants during the difficult times of Poland's communist past.

Wojtek loved sports and gymnastics his entire life. He must have been an excellent swimmer, as despite his disability, he was a member of the A.S.T. Channel Swim Team. In my opinion, that's quite a feat, especially with an amputated leg and at the age of 57! Plus, the sea didn't always make for an easy and enjoyable trip, but luckily they made it successfully. I admire that!