Deputy Defence Minister Majer congratulates WW2 veteran Ailsa Doman on her 95th anniversary

Today (10 June 2022), Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer was delighted to congratulate WW2 veteran Ailsa Doman, a Slovak lady with British roots, on her 95th anniversary at Holíč House Residential Care Home where she is resident.

Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer said: “The destinies and stories of those who witnessed the worst of failures of human reason in history have been an inspiration to us for the rest of our days. Especially, our young generation should become more familiar with the personalities of our history who were neither broken by the horrors of World War 2, nor by the reprisals of the Communist regime they endured. Therefore, we owe our deepest respect and gratitude to people like Ms Doman.”

Ailsa Doman's youth was marked by WW2. As a British Red Cross nurse, she helped to treat casualties. During the war in England, she met her husband-to-be, Alexander Doman, a Czechoslovak officer and a resistance fighter. With the end of WW2, the two moved to Czechoslovakia. After the Communist regime came to power in 1948, they both were subjected to persecution. In former Czechoslovakia, Ailsa Doman offered help to the widows and wives of the persecuted Western Resistance veterans.

Ailsa Doman is the only British war veteran with Slovak citizenship to have been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II. At Buckingham Palace on 24 May 2006, she received the Order of the British Empire for services to veterans during WW2 and for her personal contribution to forming bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and the Slovak Republic. Initiated by Ailsa herself, the Western Resistance Memorial was unveiled in Bratislava's Šafárik Square in 2003. In 2007, the President of the Slovak Republic awarded her the Order of the White Double Cross 3rd Class for her life-long role in taking the Slovak-British relationship to a new level.