A man named John Franklin lost all his documents after Poland was invaded by the Russians and Germans during WWII.
Watch the man who lost all his documents in WWII
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Video Credit: Rumble
Mr. Franklin fled to England in 1940 and lost all his documents due to the invasion.
Mr. Franklin said: “Stalin decided to release us because the Germans were bombing Moscow and he wanted us to train and fight wherever it was necessary. And so I decided to take a trip to England.”
“I never expected to get out of Russia. The hunger was so bad I never thought it was possible to experience something like it.”
He served in the RAF in No 304 Polish Bomber Squadron across numerous bases and when he left the RAF, they discharged him with a document that had the wrong birth date on it – November 7, 1921.
He always knew the date was wrong but since he was a boy at the time, he didn’t know his actual date of birth.
Mr. Franklin said: “Sopockinie was flattened during the war and so all my documentation and memories were lost amongst everything else. Even my school records — lost.”
When Mr. Franklin thought he was 98, he found out that he was actually turning 100 this year and his real name was Mieczyslaw Frackiewicz.
Mr. Franklin and his daughter Linda Davies contacted the RAF headquarters and managed to contact the Polish Embassy in London. They concluded that he was born on November 3, 1919.
Mr. Franklin will now be celebrating his 100th birthday. He also hopes to receive a letter from the Queen.
He said: “I don’t think I will get one, but if I do it will be the biggest and most enjoyable recognition. I love my country and I did whatever I could to serve it, and I’m very proud of that.”
Mr. Franklin says he is proud he is doing good despite being 100-year-old. He says: “I’ve still got a driver’s licence — I’m so lucky to have such good health.”
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