THE REMAINS of the verifiably longest-serving soldier in the world, Ladislav Škultéty-Gábriš, were laid to rest in his birthplace, Mojtín. This happened 275 years after his birth, on June 27 of this year. Škultéty-Gábriš is considered to have been the longest-serving active-duty soldier, being part of the imperial hussar regiment for 81 years. The western-Slovak municipality of Mojtín said on its website that he has now returned home because there was no one to pay fees for his grave in the town of Arad in present-day Romania.
“The priest in Mojtín was contacted by the priest in Arad, who informed him that the town cemetery had the grave of Ladislav Škultéty- Gábriš,” Miloslav Čaplovič of the Military History Institute told the SITA newswire. “He also said there is nobody to cover the fees for his grave and thus it would be right to move his remains and bury them at the cemetery of his birthplace of Mojtín. If Mojtín showed no interest in the remains, his grave would have been destroyed.”
Škultéty-Gábriš spent 81 years in the army and participated in 22 campaigns and 256 battles and served under four kings and queens. He became famous in the Austrian army as “the eternal soldier”. He died at age 93 in 1831 in the regiment’s hospital in Sanicolau Mic, now part of Arad.
