Józef Kowalski is, at age 111, thought to be Poland's oldest living man. He is thought to be the oldest verified military veteran in the world, following the death of Gertrude Noone

Gertrude Noone

Gertrude Evelyn Noone was an American supercentenarian and also the oldest American military veteran until she died in September 2009...

. He is also the only living verified veteran of the 1919-1921 Polish-Soviet War

Polish-Soviet War

The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...

. Kowalski served in the 22nd Uhlan

Uhlan

Uhlans were Polish light cavalry armed with lances, sabres and pistols. The title was later used by lancer regiments in the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian armies....

 Regiment of the Polish Army. He took part in the September Campaign

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...

 in World War II, and was later held in a concentration camp. On his 110th birthday, he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his war service by President Lech Kaczyński

Lech Kaczynski

Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...

, of Poland. Now aged 111, he lives in Tursk

Tursk, Lubusz Voivodeship

Tursk is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Sulęcin, within Sulęcin County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. It lies approximately south of Sulęcin, south of Gorzów Wielkopolski, and north-west of Zielona Góra....

, near Sulęcin

Sulecin

Sulęcin is a town in western Poland with 10638 inhabitants , the capital of Sulecin County, since 1999 in Lubusz Voivodeship.-Geography:...

, in a care home.

See also

• List of surviving veterans of World War I