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Naval officer honours family promise after more than 60 years during Baltic mission
28 May 2026
The visit of NATO’s premier task group in northern Europe to Lithuania finally allowed its commander to uphold a family promise.
Commodore Maryla Ingham succeeded in doing something her late grandfather was unable to: locate and pay her respects at the graves of her great-grandparents in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
Cdre Ingham and her multinational staff are directing the day-to-day operations of NATO’s Standing Group 1 from aboard the flagship FGS Sachsen.
When the group, which patrols the waters of northern Europe, put into Klaipeda, its commander made a beeline for the capital Vilnius to join forces with her brother, Alex, and track down the family graves.
Back in 1939 – thanks to the shifting borders of central and eastern Europe after World War 1 – the historic city of Vilnius was in Poland and known by its Polish name, Wilno.
Among its 200,000 plus inhabitants were Pawel and Maryla Sienkiewicz and their son Jan.
A reservist in the Polish Army, Jan had been enjoying kayaking on one of the region’s largest lakes, Narocz (today Lake Narach in Belarus), when he heard the announcement calling up troops in August 1939.
He immediately returned to Wilno, packed his kit and prepared to report as ordered for general mobilisation, bidding goodbye to his parents, blissfully unaware that it was to be the last time he would see them.
Poland fell inside six weeks, invaded first by the Germans, then by the Soviet Union. Jan Sienkiewicz managed to avoid capture by both and like many Polish soldiers succeeded in eventually escaping to the UK from where they continued the struggle against Fascism.
Jan eventually ended up in the ranks of Poland’s legendary II Corps which saw extensive action in Italy in the final two years of World War 2, notably at Monte Cassino.
When the conflict ended, politics prevented Jan’s return to his homeland however. The borders of eastern Europe were re-drawn and Wilno became Vilnius in Soviet-occupied Lithuania.
His parents survived the war – six million Poles did not – and lived on until 1955 (Maryla) and 1959 (Pawel), while their son carved a new life, settling in south London. But tragically they were never reunited.
Fascinated by their family history Cdre Ingham and her brother decided the former’s visit to Klaipeda with NATO finally allowed them to track down their great-grandparents’ final resting spots.
They found not only the graves, but the former family home, and took a small scoop of earth from both graves which they will shatter on their grandfather’s grave – a little bit of homeland to complete the journey and to be closer to his parents.
“The day felt like a ‘full circle’ moment visiting my great grandparents’ graves,” said Cdre Ingham. “I’m proud that my great grandmother’s legacy continues in her family today, as I am named after her.”
The task force she leads concludes participation in NATO’s largest anti-submarine exercise, Dynamic Mongoose, off the west coast of Norway, today.