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Newark-on-Trent cemetery is important internationally as it contains the Polish War Cemetery and was the historical burial place of General Sikorski (the wartime leader of Poland) whose body has now been returned to Poland, but whose memorial remains.

During the Second World War there were 14 Polish air squadrons in Great Britain; Squadrons of the Polish Air Force Polish squadrons operated from four airfields near Newark: Ingham, Syerston, Swinderby and Winthorpe.

A special plot was set aside in Newark Cemetery for RAF burials and this is now the war graves plot, where all but ten of the 90 Commonwealth and all of the 397 Polish burials were made. The cemetery also contains 49 scattered burials of the First World War. A memorial cross to the Polish airmen buried here was erected in the plot and was unveiled in 1941 by President Raczkiewicz, ex-President of the Polish Republic and head of the war time Polish Government in exile in London, supported by General Sikorski, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Forces and war time Polish Prime Minister. When both men subsequently died, General Sikorski in 1943 and President Raczkiewicz in 1947, they were buried at the foot of the Polish Memorial. General Sikorski's remains were returned to Poland in 1993, but there is still a memorial to him at Newark.

During the war, Polish air crews flying over Newark would circle the cemetery in honour of comrades laid to rest there. Nowadays, veterans and relatives return to Newark each year for the All Souls Ceremony of Remembrance.

Link Commonwealth War Graves Commission