A POLISH man will be reunited with his family for the first time in 64 years.

The last time Aleks Szustakiewicz saw his relatives, it was his 15th birthday and he was being dragged away by the Nazis and transported to Germany to work as a slave labourer.

At the end of the war, he made an amazing escape that resulted in him ending up in England where he married and found a new life on Teesside.

Now, 64 years later, he is ready to fly home to Krakow after a phone call out of the blue told the 79-year-old that his sister, Anna, and two brothers were still alive.

At Easter, he will have an emotional reunion with Anna, 73, and younger brothers Vojtek and Jaroszek.

Mr Szustakiewicz, a grandfather, will make an emotional trip to the family farm where he lived with his parents and family. He had eight brothers and sisters, two who were born after he left.

"I can't believe what's happened," said Mr Szustakiewicz, who lives in Lansdowne Road, Middlesbrough.

"My stepson, Tony, has been searching the web for my history and leaving messages all over the place.

"Suddenly one was spotted, and a couple of weeks ago, I got a phone call to say I could be Anna's brother. She called me the next day and we talked through floods of tears."

After spending years on Teesside, he has lost much of his native language and considers himself English. He remembers clearly the birthday when he was separated from his family.

He said: "I hugged my mum and dad and they hugged me. We were all crying and I did not know where I was going or if I would see them again. They had come for my sister, but she was not there, so they took me."

After working on a farm he escaped and started walking away from Germany, heading through Luxembourg and France.

He met a Polish army unit and went to fight in Italy. At the end of the war, he found himself in an army camp in Warwickshire.

He got a job with British Rail and married wife Laura, from Hartlepool, who has since died, before he moved to her native North-East.

Speaking about his return to his homeland, he said: "I am really looking forward to seeing them. I do not think I will be going to live in Poland though; it is a very different place these days.

"I am too old and feel too English now.