Józef Kowalski (supercentenarian)

Józef Kowalski
Born (1900-02-02)2 February 1900
Wicyń, Tarnopol Voivodeship, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine)
Died (2013-12-07)7 December 2013
(113 years, 308 days)
Tursk, Lubusz Voivodeship, Poland
Allegiance  Poland
Service/branch Polish Army
Years of service 19191921; 1939
Rank Captain
Unit 22nd Regiment Ułanów
Battles/wars
Awards

Józef Kowalski (2 February 1900 7 December 2013)[1] was a Polish supercentenarian and the second-to-last surviving veteran of the 1919–1921 Polish-Soviet War (Alexander Imich was the last).[2] Kowalski served in the 22nd Uhlan Regiment of the Polish Army.[3][4][5] He took part in the September Campaign 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, of Poland.[6] He lived in Tursk, near Sulęcin, in a care home.[3][4][5][6] On 23 February 2012 Kowalski was promoted to the rank of kapitan, and on 16 August 2012 he was nominated to become an honorary citizen of the city of Wołomin, having already become an honorary citizen of both Warsaw and Radzymin.[7]

Notes

  1. (in Polish)
  2. New Yorker officially deemed oldest living man on Earth
  3. 1 2 "Pan Józef ma 107 lat i czuje się znakomicie" (in Polish). Wirtualna Polska 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  4. 1 2 "Niech żyje 200 lat!" (in Polish). Radio Zachód S.A. 2008-02-02. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  5. 1 2 "200 lat dla pana Józefa! Najstarszy Lubuszanin mieszka w Tursku" (in Polish). Gazeta Lubuska 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  6. 1 2 "Letter on the occasion of Józef Kowalskis 110th birthday" (in Polish). President's office, Poland. Archived from the original on April 29, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  7. "Nowy, honorowy obywatel Wołomina" (in Polish). Wiesci.wolomin.com. 26 August 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-07.
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