Translated from the original article by Věra Mužíková by Veronika Macleod
Arisaig is a beautiful place about an hour's drive from Fort William on the west coast of Scotland, and a place where Czechoslovak and British soldiers - especially paratroopers - underwent training in the SOE (Special Operation Executive). They helped to free their homeland and other nations in brave operations. The best known is Operation Anthropoid, when Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík assassinated Reinhard Heydrich. Together with these two, 259 of our paratroopers underwent SOE training in 1941-1943.
In memory of all these heroes a memorial was unveiled in 2009 for Czech and Slovak paratroopers. Former Honorary Consul Dr Paul Millar organised it with academic sculptor Josef Vajce, and Mr Martin Matějíček, chairman of Společnost přátel Skotska. The modern memorial is in the shape of a parachute after landing.
It is made of Czech granite that withstands Scottish weather conditions. The memorial was later completed with stones carrying the names of 71 men who lost their lives in training and on the battlefields of WWII. In 2011 the Memorial received the status of a war grave.
In spring 2022 a team was formed around army historian Dr Eduard Stehlík. Part of that team had already worked on the Monument for Czech and Slovak paratroopers between 2009 and 20011, and they had decided to renovate the site and add 4 new stones with 188 names of those men who underwent SOE training in Arisaig, fought for our freedom but were lucky enough to see the end of WWII.
Dr Paul Millar and new Honorary Consul Veronika Macleod helped with the project in Scotland to give support to Dr Stehlik, Mr Martin Matějíček, Mr Adam Lučaník and stonemasons from Pečky in the Czech Republic.
The heavy stones travelled 2200km and the whole team worked on their installation in rain, wind and cold for a week. Final renovations and work will be completed in spring 2023.
On Friday 4th November 2022 an unveiling ceremony of the new stones and new information desk was held in Arisaig. The new desk has been organised by the Land Sea & Island Centre and their Friends.
Honorary Consul Veronika Macleod led the whole ceremony and also laid the wreath on behalf of our Czech schools and community in Scotland whilst Dr. Stehlik supervised the wreath laying. Father Stan blessed the stones and a minute's silence was observed for our heroes.
The importance of this occasion was shown by the fact that the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Mrs Marie Chatardova made a flying visit from London to make the keynote speech about the importance of this war memorial for future generations.
Dr Stehlik thanked everyone involved in his speech and laid a wreath on behalf of the Lidice Memorial, where he is a Director.
Piper Allan McKenzie played for us and other important guests were the descendants of those carved on the stones, namely dr. Paul Brna, Mr Jiří Christopher Pavel, Mr Antonín Šubrt. Other relatives of the veterans that have given big support to the whole team were Mrs Gerry Manolas and Dr George Scott from the Memorial Association for Free Czechoslovak Veterans, who were unable to attend in person.
The ceremony was attended by over 40 guests from near and far. Ms Macleod thanked local people and organisations for looking after the memorial, especially Mr Steve Westwood, Chair of Arisaig Community Trust, Mrs Alison Stewart and Dr Henrik Chart from Land Sea & Island Centre, and Members of Arisaig & District Community Council. Dr Chart who recently received an award from the Czech Ministry of Defence, invited all the guests to see the exhibition showing important moments from SOE history.
A Final Big Thank You is to all members of the public who contributed towards the project. Fundraising by the Czech School Scotland collected £1000 and others contributed to a collection in the Czech Republic.
Fundraising - update: A very pleasant announcement came on December 14, 2022. By the proposal of the Minister of Defense Jana Černochová, the government of the Czech Republic approved the provision of a significant financial gift to compensate for expenditures related to the general restoration of the Czechoslovak paratroopers in Arisaig, Scotland.
Photos in the article are by Vera Muzikova
Photos & video
Here is a list of the names of the heroes who survived the war, whose names are carved on granite slabs:
THEY FOUGHT AND SURVIVED
STANISLAV ADAM
OLDŘICH ADÁMEK
JÁN BAČÍK
ANTONÍN BACHÁNEK
ANTONÍN BARTOŠ
MATĚJ BENDA
JAN BETKA
KAREL BIMBOCI
JOSEF BLAŽEK
PAVEL BOCK
ALOIS BRABENEC
PAVEL BRNA
ZDENĚK BŘEZINA
JOSEF BUKÁČEK
JOSEF CIKÁN
RUDOLF ČAPEK
KAREL ČERNÍK
JOSEF ČERNOTA
RUDOLF DRBOHLAV
BOŽETĚCH DUBOVÝ
RUDOLF DUHM
ŠTĚPÁN DUPEL
VIKTOR DUŠEK
FRANTIŠEK DVOŘÁK
EVŽEN ESTEŘÁK
VLASTISLAV FIALA
FRANTIŠEK FINK
WALTER FINK
FRANTIŠEK FIŠERA
ARTHUR FLEISCHMANN
JOSEF GEMROT
PETR HAFERNÍK
JAN HAJŠMAN
PETR HALUSKA
FRANTIŠEK HANÁK
LUDVÍK HANINA
VLADIMÍR HANUŠ
FRANTIŠEK HASTÍK
ŠTEFAN HAVIER
KLEMENT HLÁSENSKÝ
PAVEL HODAČ
JOSEF HOLČÁK
ZDENĚK HOLÍK
ZDENĚK HORKÝ
HYNEK HOSTÝNEK
KAREL HOSTÝNEK
VÍTĚZSLAV HOUDEK
JAN HRUBIZNA
JAKUB HUTÁK
CTIRAD HYKEL
BŘETISLAV CHRASTINA
GABRIEL JANDL
CYRIL JÍLEK
JOSEF KADLČÍK
JAN KALETA
FABIAN KATRŇÁK
JAKUB KESSLER
JAROSLAV KLEMEŠ
JOSEF KNOP
ALOIS KOLÁŘ
KAREL KOMÍNEK
ŠTEFAN KOŠINA
LADISLAV KOVÁŘ
JOSEF KOZERA
JAN KRATOCHVÍL
JOSEF KRŠKA
RUDOLF KRZÁK
MILAN KŘÍŽEK
PRAVOSLAV KUBIŠTA
MILOSLAV KUKLA
JOSEF KUNC
JINDŘICH KVAPIL
JIŘÍ KYSELA
FRANTIŠEK LOPAUR
JIŘÍ LOUDA
MILOSLAV MACHÁČ
JOSEF MACHOVSKÝ
VÁCLAV MÁLEK
OLDŘICH MAREČEK
VLASTIMIL MAREČEK
VLADISLAV MARTÍNEK
FRANTIŠEK MASTNÝ
JAROSLAV MAŠEK
GABRIEL MELICHAR
BOHUMIL MÍČA
BEDŘICH MICHNA
JOSEF MODŘANSKÝ
BOHUMIL MORAVEC
FERDINAND MORAVEC
LEOPOLD MUSIL
VLADIMÍR MUSIL
FRANTIŠEK NEDĚLKA
EDUARD NETARDUS
KAREL NIEMCZYK
BOHUMIL NOVÁK
FRANTIŠEK NOVEDÁL
JAN NOVOTNÝ
VLADISLAV OLŠINA
ZDENĚK ONDRA
JOSEF OTISK
BOHUMIL PALA
JIŘÍ PAVEL
VLADIMÍR PAVEZKA
ROBERT PAVLÍK
KAREL PECINA
BEDŘICH PEČENKA
OLDŘICH PELC
LUDVÍK PEPRNÍČEK
VIKTOR PERNER
RUDOLF PERNICKÝ
OSVALD PEROUTKA
JAROSLAV PEŠÁN
FRANTIŠEK PETR
ANTONÍN PETRÁK
MIKULÁŠ PETRÁŠ
JAROMÍR PICKA
VLADIMÍR PLUDEK
JAN PLUHAŘ
GABRIEL PODLESNÝ
KAREL PODROUŽEK
ANTONÍN POKORNÝ
JIŘÍ POKORNÝ
CYRIL PRÁŠEK
BOHUMÍR PREININGER
BOHUMÍR PRUSEK
JOSEF RADA
FRANTIŠEK REŽÁBEK
VLADIMÍR RŮŽIČKA
VLADIMÍR ŘEZNÍČEK
TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK
JOSEF SEDLÁK
VLADISLAV SEVERINI
FRANTIŠEK SKOŘEPA
JOSEF SKUČEK
ANTONÍN SLÁMA
JOSEF SRP
ANTONÍN STOLAŘÍK
JAROSLAV STUCHLÝ
FILIP STUPAL
JOSEF SÜSSER
GUSTAV SVOBODA
KAREL SVOBODA
IGNÁC SYROVÁTKA
RICHARD ŠANTRŮČEK
BERNARD ŠIK
JAROSLAV ŠIMÁČEK
JOSEF ŠIMŮNEK
FRANTIŠEK ŠIROKÝ
VLADIMÍR ŠKACHA
VLADISLAV ŠKALOUD
JIŘÍ ŠNÁBL
ANTONÍN ŠPAČEK
JAROSLAV ŠPERL
JOSEF ŠRÁMEK
JAN ŠŤASTNÝ
ANTONÍN ŠUBERT
BOHUSLAV ŠULC
JAN ŠVACHULA
MIROSLAV TILLER
JAROSLAV TOMČÍK
FRANTIŠEK TOMEČEK
VOJTĚCH TROJÁNEK
FRANTIŠEK TRPÍK
FRANTIŠEK TUČEK
RUDOLF TURŠNER
STANISLAV UCHYTIL
FRANTIŠEK URBAN
JOSEF URBAN
RUDOLF URBAN
EDUARD URBÁNEK
ZDENĚK VÁCLAVÍK
JIŘÍ VALENTA
MIROSLAV VALNOHA
MILOSLAV VÁPENÍK
BRONISLAV VARADÍNEK
KAREL VAŠÍČEK
VÁCLAV VONDRÁK
FRANTIŠEK VOVES
FRANTIŠEK VRZALA
ALOIS VYHŇÁK
OTMAR ZÁHORA
LADISLAV ZAHRÁDKA
FRANTIŠEK ZÁLEŠÁK
OLDŘICH ZÁMEČNÍK
OLDŘICH ZÁTOPEK
BLAHOSLAV ZAVADIL
ALOIS ZDRAŽIL
JAN ZEMEK
