Franciszka Buksicka was born in Makow Mazowiecki, Poland in 1875. She married Stanislaw Kaczynski in 1897 and they had seven children including Lucyna, Ana and Zofia.

 

​When Stanislaw died in 1924, Franciszka went to live in Ostrow with her daugher Zofia and her family and it was from this farm that the Russians knocked on the door one freezing cold morning and told them to leave.​​

 

Originally, it was intended that Franciszka would travel to Australia with her daughter Lucyna, however the Australian government determined that due to her ill health, she would not be accepted.​ Along with her daughter Zofia, grand-daughter Alicja (Ala) and grand-son Bogdan, she came to the United Kingdom aboard the MV Dundalk Bay in September 1950, docking at Hull.

 

Franciszka never spoke much about her experiences during the war but family in the UK remember her pottering around her garden and always making sure the garage floor was clean.

 

​​Franciszka died in Coventry at the grand old age of 103, a fact that was celebrated by the local news in the United Kingdom - take that Australia!