A MAN who moved to England after being forced to leave his native Poland during the Second World War has celebrated 60 years of marriage.

Tadeusz and Janet Bernacki, from West Mersea, are marking the milestone with a family get together.

Mr Bernacki, 88, was put in an orphanage when he was two, after the death of his mother.

He later rejoined his family but Russian soldiers forced them to travel to a prisoner of war camp in Siberia in 1940.

His daughter, Angela James, said when the family were released two years later, Mr Bernacki was placed in another orphanage.

The family eventually regrouped in Lake Victoria, in Kampala, Uganda, where they stayed for five years.

In 1948, the family were able to move to England, through the sponsorship of one of Mr Bernacki’s brothers, who was in the Royal Air Force. He met Janet and the couple married in 1959.

They have four children, six grandchildren and a great grandson.

Mrs Bernacki, 79, worked for Colchester Council while her husband was employed by what was then the Electricity Board.

Mrs James added: “Although they are getting older my parents still enjoy daily walks along the beach and just being together.”