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WWII surviving veterans are now all over 100 ....

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pearl ... b38&ei=258

Living memory of WWII is almost gone.

PaxMondo wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2024 4:09 am WWII surviving veterans are now all over 100 ....

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pearl ... b38&ei=258

Living memory of WWII is almost gone.

It's sad ....GP

Last of the cadre officers in WW II in Finland died recently, born 1919.

Finland's last cadet officer to serve in the war, Olli Vuorio, died at the age of 105. Finland's last cadet officer who served in the war, Olli Vuorio, has died. This is reported by the Cadet Corps. Major Vuorio was the oldest member of the Cadet Corps. He died at his home in Hämeenlinna on 21 December. At the time of his death, he was 105 years old.

Can you imagine what it felt like to live though all of those years? When I was in rehab hospital the last week and a half, I began talking to a 95 year old guy who's name was Tom. We talked about a lot of things like the prices of milk, gas and now cars. So much has changed. I remember going to the local pizza shop and getting 2 large slices and a Can of soda for 75 cents....GP

I have had the honour to witness a group of WWII veterans and to speak and shake hands with some of them during the D-Day anniversary this summer when they visited Utah Beach near Saint-Martin-de-Varreville at the memorial for the French 2nd Armoured Div for a more intimate ceremony away from hustle and bustle of the official ceremonies and the huge masses of visitors around the hotspots and museums. This visit had not been widely announced so as not to attract the attention of the crowds, but I got word of it through the locals - sometimes it helps to speak French.

Some images:
https://ibb.co/ZhYnJSX
https://ibb.co/BrWHyRY
https://ibb.co/BwWkpmy
https://ibb.co/6mvCSBj

My Father who served in WWII, and all my other relatives of his generation are long gone. As are all of his friends who also served. At one point I knew many who had served in WWII on all sides and many armies: US Army/Navy, Aussie, Kiwi, Canadian, Japanese, Chinese, German, Austrian, Italian, Croatian, Russian, Afrikaans .... but now, all gone, the last I lost several years ago.

All that valor, loyalty, honor, .... RIP.

Paraphrasing what Stanton said of Lincoln's passing, now they belong to the ages. Or will soon. I seem to recall reading there were similar sentiments expressed over the loss of the last living links as the few remaining American Civil War soldiers passed away in the 1950s.

Platoonist wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2024 5:15 pm Paraphrasing what Stanton said of Lincoln's passing, now they belong to the ages. Or will soon. I seem to recall reading there were similar sentiments expressed over the loss of the last living links as the few remaining American Civil War soldiers passed away in the 1950s.

Recently our last remaining WWI soldiers passed too. We can't possibly keep the memory of every soldier alive, but studying history of what they endured and what they did keeps the spirit of it alive.

"With his death, there are 15 survivors of Pearl Harbor that are known to still be alive......"

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/28/us/w ... index.html

It was both 'a long time ago' and not so long ago. The Korean War veterans will soon be gone too. And a typical American serviceman that served in Vietnam will be >75 years old this year.

My dad is still around. His dad signed papers to allow induction on his 18th birthday in 1943. In the pipeline to be a gunner on a bomber but was pulled to be an instructor because farm boys knew how to lead targets and they needed to teach that skill. He gets up everyday and makes himself a smoothie, watches some news and tends to his chickens and garden.

My 98-year-old father-in-law is also around.

He was drafted in 1944 into the Navy and was slated to enter officer training until he failed an eye test. He was then sent into the so-called Eddy Program, which was an extremely difficult technical program training men to operate and, as important, fix radar and sonar equipment while at sea. A year plus of training (practical and theoretical electronics, physics, math) followed, which ended just as the war with Japan ended. He then spent a year or so decommissioning electronics on navy ships.

I'd ask him more, but he is unable to remember what he did 5 minutes ago much less what he did 70 years ago. Alzheimer's is hard to see. We take good care of him, though.

Luckily, we did formally interview him several times (on tape) before his memory started to worsen as part of writing his memoir (now available on Amazon!). My wife ghost-writes memoirs as an occasional side gig; I'm the book layout guy. Many unknown people live very interesting lives worthy of memoirs.

We also had the good luck to interview (on tape again) my father about his life just as his memory was starting to go. He died in 1999. Among other things, he served a couple of years in the 100th Bomb Group, which was recently featured in a big mini-series. He served in the group's S-2 unit (doing something that gave him great knowledge of the individual men of the unit). As he was not a flyer, he survived the war facing minimal danger but was surrounded by a lot of death.