This article recounts Col. Jan Edward Koelichen, MD, PhD (1871–1952), the first chief editor and for many years a member of the Editing Team of the “Lekarz Wojskowy” journal. He was born in Warsaw, in a polonized, patriotic family of Dutch settlers. In 1899, Koelichen graduated as a physician from the Imperial University of Warsaw. As a student, he was repressed for his activity related to Poland’s independence. He continued his education for two more years in renowned neurologic and psychiatric hospitals of Berlin, Heidelberg and Paris. He was combining his clinical practice with scientific work and organizational activity in the Warsaw’s community of neurologists. During WW1, Koelichen was serving as physician in a field hospital. Since 1918, in the Polish Armed Forces. Having been verified in the rank of a captain, he was appointed the head of the neurologic and psychiatric ward of the Ujazdowski Hospital in Warsaw. As the chief editor of the newly established “Lekarz Wojskowy” weekly (1920–1921), he was efficiently implementing the policy of this journal, viz: ”to provide military physicians with the entire state‑of‑the‑art medical knowledge and to consolidate them into a single living entity”. Having retired in 1929, Koelichen was combining his medical practice with social activities in the Warsaw Neurologic Society and the editing board of the „Neurologia Polska” magazine. Mobilized in 1939, Koelichen was captured and kept as a POW by the Soviets in Dubno. Since 1945, he became a nestor of Polish neurologists.