Wow, thank you for sharing.
I'm down to only knowing one WWII vet. When I was a kid I knew a slew of them but they're dying off and only a few remain.
The funny thing is that the one I know that is still alive is neither a relatively young WWII guy nor is he in bad health.
Side note, I knew very well a guy who graduated HS in 1945 and called himself a WWII Veteran in name only. By the time he finished HS Hitler was dead and the war in Europe was over. He joined the Navy because, in his telling, they were the ones taking the war to the Japanese and he wanted to be involved. He was still stateside, learning to be a tailgunner in an Avenger (Carrier based Torpode Bomber) when the A-Bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered. He ended up deploying as part of the first air wing assigned to the brand new USS Midway. He died a few years ago.
Back to the guy still alive. He was supposed to graduate HS in June, 1942 but after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor* he managed an early graduation and joined the Navy in early 1942. He was a crewman on blimps flying out of South America looking for U-boats. Postwar he became a fighter pilot and ultimate served in three branches of the military:
- Navy during the war
- Army as part of the "Army Air Force" before the formation of a separate Air Force
- Air Force upon establishment and later as part of the Air National Guard
So anyway, this guy is now 98 years old. I see him every Thursday for lunch (Kiwanis Club). He drives himself and walks in on his own, no help, no walker, no wheelchair. It gets better. He only gave up his private pilot license a few years ago because no insurance company would insure a 90+ year old pilot. It gets better. I mentioned that he drives himself to our weekly meetings. In the summers up until two years ago he rode his Honda Shadow to our meetings every week. Seriously, 95 year old guy cruising into our meeting on a motorcycle.
Dude is 98, if you met him tomorrow you'd probably guess 72 and think that he might have served in Vietnam but that he was a toddler during Korea and born after WWII.