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A World War Two pilot, who left his native Poland to join the RAF, has died days after celebrating his 100th birthday.

Stanley Rockminster, known as Rocky, celebrated his milestone birthday with family, well-wishers and war-time researchers from his native Poland.

But Rocky’s health deteriorated and he passed away last Saturday in Swansea.

While Mumbles has lost a colourful character widely described as a true gent, Britain has lost one of its dwindling number of airmen who thwarted the Luftwaffe, and a family has lost someone to whom they all looked up.

“He was the most wonderful father you could wish for,” said his daughter Barbara Rockminster. “He has always been there for me, and has been so much part of my life.”

'All he could talk about was my mum'

Rocky’s wife, Marjorie, died in May, and Ms Rockminster said: “All he could talk about was my mum, and wanting to be with her. I think he managed to hold it together for his birthday.”

Rocky and Marjorie had two sons and two daughters, 11 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. The couple met in Wrexham, and got married in 1944.

“Pilots were so popular, and she asked me for a date,” Rocky told this reporter with a grin in November 2007.

Rocky’s genial demeanour offered little clue to his grim war-time experiences, which were shared by millions of Poles.

In 1939 Rocky, whose surname then was Rokminski, was shot down with his station commander as they flew out of Poland after the country’s fall to the invading Germans.

After landing in a cornfield, it turned out that those responsible were Soviet forces which were moving in from the east.

Rocky and his commander were now prisoners of war, and were sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour in Siberia.

However, after two years they were released and transported via Murmansk to the UK.

'It was out of this world'

“We arrived in Glasgow on the second of February, 1942,” said Rocky. “I will never forget that date.

“We still had our Russian clothes on, with lice dropping off. But it was out of this world.”

Like many Poles, Rocky joined the RAF and ended up flying 55 missions, escorting Allied bombers on operations over Germany in Mosquitos, Blenheims, and Hurricanes, among others.

Rocky said he shot down a Heinkel 111 and Junkers J88, and received a Green Endorsement from the chief of air staff after his plane was badly damaged by enemy flak.

He vividly recalled the tension of pre-mission briefings.

He said: “You put your things away in metal lockers and I would think, ‘ Will I open them again?’ If anyone tells you they are not frightened of death, then they are a liar.”

After VE Day Rocky learned that all his family had survived the war, including a brother who had fought at the punishing battle of Monte Cassino in Italy.

After the war he worked as an RAF instructor, with stints in Cyprus and Malta.

Here Rocky describes in his own words about being couped up in a freezing train en route to hard labour in Siberia in 1939, and the work building a railway.

“There were 48 of us in a cattle truck. You could see ice from your breath.

'It was atrocious'

“We were fed dried toast and sardines. We started licking icicles on metal screws in the cattle truck for water. The toilet was just a hole in the floor for all 48 of us. I was young and fit and that was the reason I survived. It was absolutely atrocious.

“In the winter months there was daylight for just a couple of hours; in the summer it was daylight all the time.

“If people fell while working, they weren’t picked up. We were cut off from civilisation. There was no news, no radio, no newspaper. We thought there would be no return.”

In later life, Rocky told many schoolchildren at Swansea Museum about his experiences.

Oystermouth councillor Tony Colburn, who presented Rocky with a special Royal British Legion plaque on his 100th birthday, said Polish fighters had a reputation matching that of Gurkhas.

“To say they were fierce was putting it mildly,” he said.

Gloria Thorburn, the owner of Mumble’s Ocean Living Residential Home, where Rocky moved aged 99, said he was a very popular resident. “He was a real gent, and he enjoyed his glass of whisky,” she said.