Polish uniform, gun, drink?

[kilmyneo]

Hello, i recently found this pic of my grand grand father ( at right )...the story that he told to my mother was that he was a polish red cross recruit, but looking this picture many questions came to my mind, and if somebody could answer i will be very grateful.

1) About Uniform..is this of red cross? or military? i think is ww1

2) i am using Photoshop and i was trying to identify the name in the bottle, i think it says ALEMBIK...some kind of drink...maybe vodka?

3) one of the things that caught my attention when i was retouching the picture was that i saw the gun in the right hand of my grand grand father...was this normal in those time or maybe was ¨for the picture ¨?? this is disconcerting for me.

Any help i will be very happy.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi there, sorry that I cannot offer too much help other than mentioning that ‘staging’ photos using props was not at all unusual at the time this photo was taken. However, the gun may very well have belonged to your grandfather. Let’s hope someone will chime in with more info.

Regards,
Tony

[kilmyneo]

Thanks for reply, i apreciate that you take the time to answer. Is hard for my to get information.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

You're most welcome. Best wishes with your research. Keep plugging away and you're certain to find more information.

Cheers,
Tony