John Ward (RAF officer)

John Ward (1921 – 1995) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer (Flight Lieutenant), an ex-POW, and a member of the Polish resistance Armia Krajowa (Home Army) in occupied Poland of Second World War.

Ward was born in the Birmingham suburb of Ward End and joined the RAF in 1937, aged 18, as a wireless operator. Shot down by the Germans in the early phase of the war (in 1940), he escaped the POW camp in April 1941 and joined the Polish resistance. In the resistance, he was tasked with facilitating communication between the British government and the Polish underground. In the period of 1941-1945, he prepared 64 eyewitness reports of the fighting, and became a war correspondent (behind enemy lines) for London's The Times. Ward participated in activities of the clandestine radio station "Błyskawica" (Lighting) of Polish resistance during the Warsaw Uprising, airing the English-language broadcasts, in addition to contributing over 100 reports during the Uprising. He was lightly wounded during the uprising, and received Polish Cross of Valour. He fought with the Polish resistance after the fall of the Uprising, until May 1945, when he revealed himself to the Soviet forces. He died in 1995.