THEY were forcibly removed from their homes and transported to foreign countries by Soviet troops more than 50 years ago.

But their distant and traumatic experiences were finally honoured at a tearful ceremony at the Polish Community Centre in Southampton.

A total of 13 members of Southampton's Polish community received the Siberian Deportee Cross from a representative of the London Polish Consul.

The President of Poland awards the crosses in recognition of the suffering Polish people went through when the Soviet Union invaded Poland during the Second World War.

Barbara Milczarek, 44, of Gento Close, Hedge End, was at the ceremony to pick up the cross on behalf of her Polish father, Alec Milczarek, who died two years ago.

She said: "My dad was forced to leave his home in Poland at the age of 15. He was then sent by train to Uzbekistan and Siberia to pick cotton. When he was 18 he was allowed into England and married a Southampton girl who he met at the Cadena bakery in Shirley.

"His parents were killed and his three sisters ended up living in Australia, Cyprus and South Africa.

So proud' "He would have been so proud to have been here today to know his experience was recognised with a medal."

Fearing Polish men would join the army, Soviet troops deported more than 1.7 million Poles between 1939 and 1956 to countries such as Siberia and Kazakhstan.

Janus Wach, the Polish Consul General from London, gave out the Siberian Deportee Crosses after a mass at the centre in Portswood.

He said: "When the Second World War started in 1939 the Polish people didn't just have to deal with the invading Nazis. We had to deal with the Soviet troops who invaded us from the west as well. And that's when the real tragedy for the Polish people began.

"The Polish people were put on deportation trains and many had to fight for their lives. The cross is a symbol of respect for those who didn't make it and a symbol of what the Soviet Union did during the Second World War."

Wiktor Ottembrajt, 72, chairman of the Compatant Association, the equivalent of the Royal British Legion, was one of the Polish men awarded the cross at the ceremony.

He said: "I feel very proud. At last I have something to prove what happened to our people. It will be a reminder to my family of what happened to our people."