THEY stood side by side as part of the 40,000-strong Warsaw Resistance in 1944 to free Poland from the Nazis.

    But Andrew Borowiec and Ted Stopczynski went their separate ways when the war came to an end.

    After more than 70 years apart, the pair coincidentally moved into adjacent bungalows at a care home in England.

    They were only reunited when a member of staff, at the Ilford Park Polish Home in Newton Abbot, Devon, thought there might be a connection and introduced them.

    Borowiec’s wife Juliet witnessed their reunion and was “astonished” they ended up in the same place.

    She said, “They were as excited as two men in their 80s can be. It is an enchanting story.

    “It is such a coincidence that they are opposite each other in the bungalows. Ted’s window looks onto our garden.

    “They talk at a mile-a-minute whenever they see each other, especially Ted, as he has the better memory and he is very loquacious.

    “Even though he is two years older and was in charge of Andrew during the war, he says ‘I am not a hero, Andrew is a hero.”

    Stopczynski, 89, was known as “Nietek” during the war and at 17 years of age he was in the command unit. He recruited Borowiec, 87, who was 15 at the time for what became a 63-day struggle.(SD-Agencies)