Everyone laughed, and it quickly became an inside cadet joke: “We fire for Poland—we toast with gunpowder!” Then came the day…
At the ceremony, the cadets stood ready by the cannon. Flags waved. The Polish delegation approached. And at the very moment the firing command was to be given, one cadet (let’s call him “Jørgensen”), forgot himself for a split second—and shouted, loud and clear:
“Na zdrowie!” BOOM!—the salute went off. The guests froze. Danish defense staff turned pale. And the Polish ambassador… burst out laughing and began to clap! He turned to his delegation and said:
“They speak our language! The Danish military is more cultivated than I thought!” Cadet Jørgensen had a very serious conversation with his superior, but got off with a warning—and a reputation that still follows him in officer circles as: “The one who fired with a toast.”
Since then, cadets at Frederiksberg Palace have adopted an unofficial ritual: if anyone says “Na zdrowie!” during exam training, they have to buy coffee for the entire class.
