A FORMER Polish soldier who died from cancer was given a special send off at his funeral this week.

Walter Zimny, originally from Kielce, near Warsaw, died at home in Frenchwood Street, Preston, on May 17, after a five-month battle with liver cancer.

In tribute, the 87-year-old's coffin was draped with the Polish flag at his funeral at St Augustine's Church, St Austin's Place, Avenham, and a member of the Polish community held up a banner written in his native language in commemoration. The service on Monday, May 24, was followed by a cremation at Preston Crematorium.

Walter served as a soldier in the Polish army during the Second World War but his family went into hiding during Nazi rule.

He was captured and taken to a labour camp where he worked on a farm before being taken to a concentration camp for talking to the German landlady of the farm.

His wife Rosa, 81, said: "He was reported to the German army because he was polite to the landlady.

"They didn't like prisoners speaking to other Germans and they took him to a concentration camp for four months where he was badly beaten from head to toe."

At the end of the war Mr Zimny came to England where he worked as a spinner weaver at the former Courtaulds factory, on the Red Scar industrial estate, Preston.

He met his wife at a hostel in Chorley where his friends bet him she would not go out with him. The couple would have celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary in December.

He was a familiar face at his allotment in Frenchwood where the couple grew fruit and vegetables.

Daughter Christine said: "When I was a young girl he used to take me to the allotment and showed me how to plant and hoe the land. These are my fondest memories and I will really miss him. To me he was a real hero."

Walter died peacefully with Rosa and dog, Trudy.