GrogHeads Forum

History, Reference, Research, and GrogTalk => Military (and other) History => Topic started by: Martok on February 24, 2012, 05:24:38 PM

Title: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: Martok on February 24, 2012, 05:24:38 PM
I thought this (http://www.startribune.com/world/140300293.html) was a cool little story... 


Quote

WARSAW, Poland - Poland's Defense Ministry says a 112-year-old veteran of both World Wars has been promoted to captain.

The ministry says in a statement that Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak visited veteran Jozef Kowalski in a nursing home in Tursk, in western Poland, on Thursday and promoted him from lieutenant to captain.

Kowalski was born Feb. 2, 1900, in what is now southern Poland, but was then part of the Austrian Empire. He fought in a Polish cavalry unit formed during World War I.

The statement says Kowalski is the only survivor of Poland's victorious 1920 war against Bolshevik Russia.

It says that after 1920 he studied at a cavalry school but chose to return to his family farm.

In 1939 he returned to combat, fighting the Germans but spent most of the war a prisoner.


Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: Gusington on February 24, 2012, 07:28:13 PM
Wow. And on top of being 112 he fought in both world wars. I wish he wrote a book about it.
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: LongBlade on February 24, 2012, 08:53:24 PM
+1
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: Shelldrake on February 25, 2012, 06:41:40 AM
Great story and a nice gesture on the part of the Polish government.
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: Centurion40 on February 26, 2012, 10:18:41 AM
Quote from: Shelldrake on February 25, 2012, 06:41:40 AM
Great story and a nice gesture on the part of the Polish government.

Yeah man.
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: Keunert on February 26, 2012, 04:45:08 PM
he lost and won in both wars. what a complicated situation this guy was in.
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: Gusington on February 26, 2012, 05:17:12 PM
HA good point.
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: bayonetbrant on February 29, 2012, 10:42:18 AM
There can't be more a dozen or so WWI vets still alive, eh?
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: Gusington on February 29, 2012, 10:54:05 AM
^That we know about.

I'm sure there are more tucked away in the wilds of some far flung corners of Europe. You never know...there might be an American Civil War vet living the life of a hermit at 180 somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains :)
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: LongBlade on February 29, 2012, 02:02:23 PM
Good lord, wouldn't that be something?
Title: Re: Polish WWI veteran (112 years old!) promoted to captain
Post by: Gusington on February 29, 2012, 02:26:51 PM
I should write a book about that. A pseudo history/biography about America's oldest vet. I would buy it.