The badge of the rank of Warrant Officer for the Royal Air Force, equivalent to a Polish ensign. The badge was made from a piece of black cloth decorated with hand-made embroidery (flat embroidery). In the central part of the embroidered pattern there is a shield of the coat of arms of Great Britain. The shield is oval, four-divided and schematically executed. On each of the fields a smaller shield is visible. However, the representations placed on the smaller shields are so suggestive/imprecise that it is difficult to read what is on them. There should be the coats of arms of the various states comprising the monarchy: England (on the first and fourth fields), Scotland (2nd field) and Ireland (4th field). The whole coat of arms was made with the use of gold thread. The coat of arms is surmounted by the British royal crown. The crown is also made with the use of golden thread. The crown has a golden lion sitting on top (a jewel of the coat of arms). On the sides of the crown you can see a crowned lion (on the left) and a unicorn (on the right). These are the so-called heraldic keepers or shield supports. Below the coat of arms is visible the motto of the English crown "Dieu et mon droit" (French: God and my law). The inscription was made with black thread on the background of a gold ribbon, also embroidered by hand. In addition to the gold and black thread, the application was also filled in places (animal tongues, parts of crowns) with red thread. The cut of the badge corresponds to the shape of the embroidery. Hernryk Roznetal served in the Polish Armed Forces in the rank of corporal. In the Royal Air Force, within which the PSP functioned at that time, he was at the same time given the rank of sergeant, which is a higher rank. The rank of warrant officer for the Royal Air Force, of which the badge shown is an emblem, is a rank above sergeant. According to surviving records, while serving as a gunner in the RAF, Henry Rozental was never promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer. As this type of badge was most often produced by soldiers themselves, one may be tempted to assume that the airman may have been expecting to be awarded a rank and may have produced a badge "to spare". What is known is Rozental's RAF service number: 704949. On a website devoted to the location of the burial places of Polish airmen "killed and deceased during and after the war, scattered around the world" Niebieska Eskadra [Blue Flight] (niebieskaeskadra.pl; accessed: 27 October 2021), we can also find information about his place of rest. He died in 2001. Henryk Rozental was buried in the Brudnowski Cemetery in Warsaw.
Marta Frączkiewicz
