Elez Dervišević Elez Dervišević ( 1901 – 1988 ) was a Bosniak soldier of the Austro - Hungarian Army and one of the youngest soldiers in the First World War . Biography . He was born in 1901 to a prominent Bosniak merchant family in Bijeljina , Bosnia . He had two brothers , Osman and Mehmed and one sister , Safija . Military career . Beginnings . At the beginning of the First World War , during the mobilisation of the Austro - Hungarian Army , Adem Mesić recognised the danger on the southeastern border of Austria - Hungary , on the river Drina that was under threat from Serbia . With his own funds , Mesić mobilised 450 volunteer troops and stationed them on the Austria - Hungary border on the river Drina . Dervišević ' s brother , Mehmed , joined the group and was later promoted to captain . Immediately after the proclamation of war against Serbia by Austria - Hungary , the Serbian Army controlled the eastern side of the Drina . At age eleven , Elez left school to defend Austria - Hungary with Mehmed . Battles of the Isonzo . When Italy declared war on Austria - Hungary , the 91st Czech Infantry Battalion was ordered to Soča . The teenaged Dervišević volunteered to help the Czech infantry at Soča supplying food for the battalion . The Czech officer stationed there , Alois Martinek , asked the local Protection Corps commander to help guide him via the river Sava and the region of Slavonia , to which he agreed . However , Dervišević abandoned his task to jump on the train with the army to became a soldier . He was discovered only after he got to Soča . After hearing of this , Martinek ordered him off the front line . At first , Dervišević was a courier . Then a commander brought him to see the Bosniak forces in action . From a safe distance he watched as the Third Regiment of the Bosniak attacked and overran the Italian positions . Dervišević and an officer captured three Italian soldiers , and because of this the boy was promoted to corporal . At fourteen he was the youngest soldier in the Austro - Hungarian Army . After nineteen months of service Dervišević was hit by shrapnel in the lower jaw and Martinek sent him to a hospital in Vienna . When he recovered he was stationed in Wielburg castle . He took care of the Ernsthaler family , who enrolled him in cadet school in Bratislava . After the war . At the end of the First World War , Dervišević returned to Bijeljina . Upon arriving he was greeted by the mother and the brother of Osman Munevera . In 1925 he visited the Ernsthaler family and the Archduchess Isabella who lived in Hungary . As a gift from her , he received 5 , 000 florins . He used the money to start an agricultural export company . He became a successful entrepreneur and his business flourished until World War II . After the end of World War II he went to Syria , where he took the rank of major in the reserves of the Syrian Army . He died in Syria in 1988 . He is buried in Damascus . His daughter Nes lives there , while his grandson Elez Dervišević Jr now lives in Spain . Military decoration . For his service in World War I , Elez Dervišević received the Silver Medal for Bravery 2nd class , the Bronze Medal for Bravery and the Medal of Military Merit . When the Bulgarian King Ferdinand I asked , as Elez stood in front of him in uniform with a slightly skewed fez : " Are you a Turk ? " , he replied : " No , I ' m a Bosniak , and an Austrian ! "