21 January 2008

Last Polish WWI veteran dies

Poland's last surviving World War I veteran, Stanislaw Wycech , died in his sleep on 12 January. He was 105.

Wycech was born into a family of Polish independence activists in June 1902 near Warsaw. With the outbreak of war in 1914, Poles were drafted into the Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian armies. Wycech had been too young for the draft, but in 1915 became a messenger with the Polska Organizacja Wojskowa (POW), or Polish Military Organisation, an underground movement seeking freedom for the country. In February 1917, he was admitted to the POW's "adult" wing.

7 comments:

The Lone Beader® said...

Wow! 105???

This is very intesting. I am mostly Polish, and my grandparents were born on the boat. When my grandmother passed away a few years ago (she was 98), I found old Polish postcards at her house. I still have them, but I need a translator to read them...

Frank Partisan said...

I knew someone who lived that long. She drank hot water in the AM, not coffee or tea. She liked ling walks as well.

jams o donnell said...

Your grandmother had a long life herself. I take it you didn't speak Polish at home?

I bet she had a tale to tell Ren

Roland Dodds said...

Golly Jams, how many obituaries do you read a day?! You are on top of it when it comes to WWI vets expiring.

Thanks for doing it none-the-less, just stay out of the morgues when it comes to verifying these deaths! :)

jams o donnell said...

Haha Roland, it's quite easy really! Wikipedia has a page on surviving WWI bvets and lists those who have died!

Anonymous said...

Did you hear the last surviving German veteran had died Jams?

jams o donnell said...

I did Alison and two French veterans, THere are just 15 known vets left now