A PEER who championed recognition of the "forgotten army" that helped protect Scotland during the Second World War has been posthumously honoured by the president of one of the allied countries.
Lord Fraser of Carmyllie was awarded Poland's highest possible accolade for a foreigner when President Bronislaw Komorowski honoured him for services to Poles in Scotland.
Eight months after his death aged 67, the former Lord Advocate's family collected the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, given to Lord Fraser for raising the profile of a heroic band of soldiers led by General Stanislaw Maczek, commander of the 1st Polish Armoured Division, who was revered by his troops and feared by the enemy.
Lord Fraser's final project before he died had been to secure a permanent memorial to the general and the contribution of Poland to the war effort.
The peer took up the cause because he had been struck by the story of General Maczek, whose battalion guarded the east coast of Scotland in the war but who could never return home to a post-conflict communist Poland.
General Maczek's brigade took part in D-Day and liberated towns in France and Belgium and also Breda in the Netherlands, where people voted for the general to be made a Dutch citizen.
The general ended up working in the Learmonth Hotel in Edinburgh, where onlookers were bemused when former troops would click their heels in salute when he served them drinks.
Despite their sacrifices during the war, the Poles were not entitled to a soldier's pension in Britain. Many of the 20,000 members of the Polish armed forces stationed in Scotland settled in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Borders, where General Maczek's unit was initially based.
One of his last surviving men, Zenon Sliwinski, 91, who drove a tank in the famous Normandy victory at Falaise and who now lives in Hyndland Road in Glasgow, yesterday welcomed the appreciation of Lord Fraser's work.
Mr Sliwinski told how the battalion called the general "Baca" (pronounced "Batsa"), which means "good shepherd", and of how he continued to support his flock until his death aged 102 in 1994.
Mr Sliwinski said: "I know [Lord Fraser] worked hard [for the general's memorial]. He was sincere in his endeavours."
Lord Fraser, architect of the Lockerbie bombing indictment and chairman of the Holyrood building inquiry, found it incredible Poles were banned from victory celebration marches in London after the war for fear of upsetting the Russians and also how little is known of their wider contribution to Scottish society.
Lady Fiona Fraser and her three children by Lord Fraser were presented with the medal on Thursday at the Polish Embassy in London "in particular for his efforts in commemorating the memory and achievements of General Stanislaw Maczek".
Polish ambassador Witold Sobkow handed over the award and also indicated support for the setting up of the permanent memorial to the general.
Under the plan, a brass bench with General Maczek's figure seated at one end would be sited in the Meadows in Edinburgh, not far from where he and his family made their home.
Lady Fraser said: "I am deeply honoured to accept the award but would have much preferred that Peter had been here to receive it himself.
"He discovered the quite remarkable story of General Maczek by fate when it was his duty to represent the UK Government in attending his funeral.
"Later, he met people near our home who remembered the general being in the area in the 1940s. As his research continued, conversations were often dominated by new things Peter had learned about the general and he spoke of him almost as if he had been a personal friend."
Mr Sobkow said: "Lord Fraser understood what an important figure the general had been in the history of Scotland."
Some of Lord Fraser's closest friends also attended the ceremony to honour him, including Lord Lang of Monkton, Lord Advocate Lord Cameron of Lochbroom, Lord Mackay of Drumadoon, Lord Hope of Craighead and Lord Patel of Dunkeld.
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