The ambassador Jaroslav Horak held a following speech on the occasion of the unveiling of the memorial:

Petten 17th October 2012

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, allow me to thank very much for having been invited here. I am really gratified to be in this particular reverent place on the occasion of the newly built Memorial in honour of the crew of KX-B, a Vickers Wellington bomber of 311 Czechoslovak Squadron RAF that crashed on 28 December 1941 over the North Sea.

It has been 70 years since the last tragic flight and following events happened. To commemorate this anniversary and out-of-ordinary courage of 6 Czechoslovak soldiers, members of the 222nd Training Squadron, together with Dagmar Johnson-Šišková, daughter of Alois Šiška, and Roel Rijks, our Dutch colleague, managed to raise proper financial funds for creating the Memorial. I would like to express my gratitude and thank all of those who are behind it, and who, as I am certain, do merit praise.

I am proud that, as an ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Netherlands, I am allowed to   make a brief speech today.

However, before I go back to the event of December 1941, let me mention the term – „hero“.

According to an encyclopedia, a hero is someone who has done something brave or good and is admired by a lot of people. Each of us can be a hero but not everybody possesses the real qualities. A hero knows what fear is, might be even frightened to death, but is able to take a risk, cross a threshold and go further. A Hero has the strength to overcome oneself, one´s own apprehension in order to help, to save lives of those who are desperate.

Real heroes are usually modest without their noses up. They  do not consider what they did for others exceptional or extraordinary. It is something which can be taken  for granted. You can often hear them say: „ Well, we were just in the right place at the right time, and there was no other way for us.“

I am persuaded that it is very important to remember heroes. They must not be forgotten.Because of the brave exploits of the crew of aircraft KX-B we have gathered together today, haven´t we?

The crew  was six men:

first pilot Sgt Alois Šiška

second pilot Sgt Josef Tománek

navigator F/O Josef Mohr

wireless operator F/O Josef Ščerba

front gunner Sgt Pavel Svoboda and

rear gunner Sgt Rudolf Skalický

Their plane took-off from East Wretham airfield, Norfolk for a bombing raid on Wilhelmshaven docks, Germany on 28thDecember 1941 but did not return. Over the target, the aircraft was damaged by flak and the crew was forced to ditch the plane into the North Sea. One of them, Rudolf Skalický, did not make it out of the ditched aircraft but the remaining five managed to scramble into the dinghy.  For the next six days  the survivors proved to be the men of great courage and determination, strong-willed to live. Their dingy drifted in the icy North Sea. On the fifth day, both Tománek and Mohr died. Ščerba lay unconscious, Šiška and Svoboda were desperate and decided to end it all. They took a cocktail of drugs from thein first aid kit. Fortunately, they came around. 3rd January 1942 was the day which meant the end of their ordeal. From the original five who survived the crash landing, only three were alive – Alois Šiška , Josef Ščerba and Pavel Svoboda. They were rescued thanks to two Dutch schoolboys, the brothers Thomas and Dirk Zuiderland who spotted the dingy near the coast and called for help. The three survivors were taken to hospital in Alkmaar. Alois Šiška was the worst injured of them and due to have both legs amputated as they became gangrenous after severe frostbite to his feet. But finally, this horrible surgery was not necessary as the gangrene receded.

Major General Šiška became patron of  322nd Tactical Squadron of the Czech Air Force on August 22nd 2002. From that day the squadron was called „Major General Šiška Squadron“. When in 2003 it was disbanded, the patronage finished with it.

In 2008, lieutenant Pavel Linhart of the 222nd Training Squadron came up with the idea of resuming this patronage.

On 4th November 2008, Vlasta Šišková, widow of Major General Šiška, gave her permission for the squadron to be called „Šiškova“.

And it was last year that the members of the squadron put forward the idea to build a monument in Petten in honour of  not only General Šiška but of the complete Czech crew of Wellington KX-B.

Their wish was fulfilled. And so we can pay tribute to those heroes – soldiers - whose lives were sacrifice to us all.

Ladies and gentlemen,once again, I must express my thanks and admiration for the heroic crew as well as for all those who were kind and skillful enough to realize the brilliant idea of creating this Memorial. I think that you will agree with me when I say that this is the evidence of excellent cooperation and the prove of the fact that through history the Czechs, the Slovaks and the Dutch can go further into the future together side by side.