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History Club
Military history and past events only. Rants or inflamitory comments will be removed.
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How Many are Left???
GSPatton
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California, United States
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 09:14 AM UTC
I was watching the National Geographic special on Arlington National Cemetary. This is a very well done documentary and I highly recommend it to any and all who want to know more about this hallowed place and the men who guard the Tomb of the Unknowns. Seeing all the markers and memorials got to wondering;

WWI vet must now be pushing 100 - who many more years before we have no more "Dough Boys" - no living persons who survived the Somme, Verdun, the Argonne Forest?

WWII Vet are pushing 90 - won't be too long before the last of them have gone to their rest. No living person who was at Dunkirk, North Africa, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Berlin -

Makes you wonder.
jazza
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 09:18 AM UTC
Really puts the cycle of life into perspective doesnt it? Mind you though, i wouldnt want to still be alive if i was involve in either war as there is no suffering more worse than watching your loved ones and buddies pass on to the other side and you get left behind.
AJLaFleche
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 09:21 AM UTC
My father in law, circled below,

turned 80 last summer. He saw action in North Africa, where a LIFE photograper took this famous picture, Sicily, Italy, the Bulge, and Germany with the 36th Texas. He was wounded twice, one of which kept him off hte beaches at D-Day. He's still doing pretty well.
Henk
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 01:16 PM UTC
Al, if this photo was taken in 1942 that makes your Father in Law 16 or 17 in this picture? That really brings home how young so many fighting on the other side of the world for our freedom were....
I hope he has had a change to visit Western Europe, to see how much those sacrafices are still remembered to this day. In the Netherlands the remembrance of WW II is kept alive, with new memorials being added even to this day.
The great memorials, such as the annual Market Garden commemerations, are winding down as the veterans are now getting to old to attend, or have passed on. But the memory is preserved, and will be for a long time, with events like the annual Airborne March .

That's what the first line in my signature is all about..

Cheers
Henk
Drader
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Wales, United Kingdom
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 01:31 PM UTC
We probably have less than a dozen WW1 survivors left in Britain, my grandfather (CEF) died in the early sixties.

My partner's father (Dunkirk/Greece/Crete/NA/Italy) is still around, though being in the RA didn't do his hearing any favours.
blaster76
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 03:15 PM UTC
My dad turns 80 in 2 months. He was at Saipan and Okinawa with the 7th ID. He's still out playing golf once or twice a week. He still owes me a samurai sabre !!!!!!!!!! :-)
AJLaFleche
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 06:26 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Al, if this photo was taken in 1942 that makes your Father in Law 16 or 17 in this picture? That really brings home how young so many fighting on the other side of the world for our freedom were....

Yep, he left home in West Virginia and, shall we say, the recruiter was misinformed about Jim's age!

Quoted Text

I hope he has had a change to visit Western Europe, to see how much those sacrafices are still remembered to this day. In the Netherlands the remembrance of WW II is kept alive, with new memorials being added even to this day.

For whatever reasons, he never went back to Europe and didn't get involved with any veterans' groups. The war, clearly, was the highpoint of his life. When he does talk about it, it's in snippets.
greatbrit
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 07:10 PM UTC
As David says i think the number of remaining British WW1 veterans left is around 10.

Several members of my family (great-grandfathers) who fought in the great war died many years ago.

My Grandfather is the last of 10 brothers who all fought in WW2. After turning 18 in 1943 he was sent to the far east in early 1944. He served in the Wiltshire regiment until the end of the war.

One of his older brothers was a regular soldier before the war, he saw action in france with the BEF, then france again after D-Day and NW Europe until he was wounded during market garden.
Gunny
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Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 - 07:13 PM UTC

Quoted Text

My dad turns 80 in 2 months. He was at Saipan and Okinawa with the 7th ID. He's still out playing golf once or twice a week. He still owes me a samurai sabre !!!!!!!!!! :-)


Steve...
What is your Dad's name, Bro?? My Dad was in the 7th also, in those campaigns as well...maybe we have another connection as well, mate, beside the hobby?!
Gunny
thathaway3
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Posted: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 12:25 AM UTC
What is sad to realize is that the great men who fought for the US in WW II are dying off at the rate of approx 3000 per day. No, there's not an extra zero in that number.

My own dad was an Avaiation Engineer Battalion vet who served in the China Burma India theater, and I wish I had taken the time to more formally record some of his memories of that time, which are now gone forever.

Tom
peacekeeper
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Posted: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 01:57 AM UTC

Quoted Text

As David says i think the number of remaining British WW1 veterans left is around 10.


There was an article in the Ottawa Sun newspaper yesterday...there are only 3 remaining WW1 vets in Canada and one of them was turning 105. He'd just survived a bout of pneumonia.
redneck
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Posted: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 03:32 AM UTC

Quoted Text

if this photo was taken in 1942 that makes your Father in Law 16 or 17 in this picture? That really brings home how young so many fighting on the other side of the world for our freedom were....


Your very right about that.
I can’t speak for other branches but you could join the navy at 17 with your parents permission or by tricking one of your parents to sign a paper.
My grandfather joined in February of 45 using the latter approach. According to him there was one guy over there with him that had joined up at the age of 15. He was 17 and had already received a purple hart by the time they discovered he had lied about his age and discharged him. By the time he arrived back in the states he had already turned 18 and the 1st thing he did was reenlist.

So WWII vets should be around at least a few more years yet.


I can’t say I know any WW1 vets but I do have the honor of knowing a few WWII vets.
tango20
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Posted: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 05:43 AM UTC
Hi all

Just thought i would post a pic of my dad 84 in April just did a Computer course out of his section that landed on D-Day only 2 of them left.
Cheers Chris
Mech-Maniac
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Posted: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 02:39 AM UTC
Not too long ago, maybe a few months at max, the last survivor of the famous Christmas truce had passed away.
Halfyank
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Posted: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 03:19 AM UTC
It is sad how many vets are dying each day. It just means we should do all we can to let them know how much we appreciate them. A while back I was able to see Stephen Ambrose give a reading of his book Wild Blue Yonder. After this he answered questions. At the end of the program he make a special point of having every WWII vet present stand up. They weren't that many, but they were all given a big ovation.

The trick about really getting to know such vets, and getting them to speak out, is that for many of them the memories are still too personal, and painful.
bgazso
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Posted: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 03:44 AM UTC
I lost my dad several years ago. He was regular Navy and drove a LCVP. Landed elements of the 1st I.D. at Omaha - 3rd wave. After that was assigned to the Army and operated with Rangers and British Commandos ferrying them behind German lines on rivers and even canals. I was lucky. He would tell me stories as I grew up and that spurred my interest in history and modeling.

I bought a brick for him at the D-Day Museum, but he died three days before I had planned to show him the certificate. I still miss him. He was the best man I've ever known.

I've collected dozens of stories from vets. They usually will open up once they realize I have a genuine interest in their stories. I've heard some amazing things.

Don't wait to have a relative or anyone you know tell you their story. They won't be around forever.

Barry
woltersk
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Posted: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 06:50 AM UTC

Quoted Text

For whatever reasons, he never went back to Europe and didn't get involved with any veterans' groups. The war, clearly, was the highpoint of his life. When he does talk about it, it's in snippets.


Al,
If you haven't done so already--write down and/or record these snippets whenever you can.

My father was a WWII Kreigsmarine Submariner who was lucky enough to survive the war.

He passed away in 2001 and all we have of his experiences growing up under Hitler and wartime exploits is an unfinished autobiography and what few stories we (his kids) can remember.
Most of those are already getting muddled up like a bad game of 'telephone.' We can't even recall which three U-boats he was assigned to!

So do yourself and your kids, and grankids, a favor, and get it all on record. They will thank you one day.

Keith
DODGE01RT
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Posted: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 09:06 AM UTC
My Grandfather past in Dec.He was a Langcaster(sp?) pilot in the RCAF.He really never said much about the war or what he did.To him I think it was a part of his life that was his and his alone.

I would have liked to have heard some of his stories but never really asked knowing how he felt.It was a very sad day for me when he died knowing that I will never get to know his thoughts and stories.

Jim
Torchy
#047
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Posted: Saturday, March 04, 2006 - 03:48 AM UTC
I'm sure I read that there are no more WW1 vets left in Germany, and that there are only about six the the UK.
GSPatton
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Posted: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 04:31 AM UTC
The VA estimates that no more than 50, perhaps as few as 30, WWI Vets are left to tell the story of what was then known as the Great War. An estimated 2 million Americans served in Europe after the U.S. entered the war in 1917.

This was posted last year - meaning the numbers are probably closer to 30 or less
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