It's 81 years ago

when we hear of the death of the last vet.

My Dad - a WWII vet who died in 2014 at 92 - would tell us about Memorial Day parades he saw as a kid with the last few remaining Civil War veterans.
He was active in a WWII Veterans group until a few years before his death, when the group had to cease operations due to not enough members left to keep it going.

Born December 1925. He enlisted in late 1942 a couple weeks after his 17th birthday and served as a Navy Corpsman on a Hospital Ship in the Pacific and then off the coast of Ireland in June of '44. He was recalled to service by the Marine Corp as a Field Medic in Korea.

He died in 2000, about 4 months shy of his 75th birthday.

We most certainly will see the day when the last one passes, and it will be sooner than we all might like.

My your father, all his comrades, my father and all his shipmates and every other young man who fought to crush the same type of fascism we are seeing rise again, Rest in Peace.

Start to finish he was under service from 43 to 46, seeing active combat 44-45. He was in the V12 program, basically ROTC for the hundred of thousands officers needed. He spent 4 months at the Naval Academy. He too had seen civil war vets. My Grandfather was a WW1 army vet.

He passed in 2012 at age 86. He had PTSD when we were younger. Moving out of the city and into the country made a huge difference in stress and his ability to work through his issues.

The last in my family, my dad, passed in 2006 at the ripe age of 85. Feisty and funny as hell until the end. I miss that old man every day.

Hard to believe, but there are still American soldiers listed as "Missing" from the Revolutionary War.

Of course they have passed, but no one knows where or when, and we will probably never find out.

Tragic.

The thought crossed my mind when someone mentioned "the last soldier" from WWII.
That time will inevitably come to pass.

To all the veterans out there this Memorial day, Thank You for your service to our nation.
Some of us treat you with honor and respect, and not refer to you as "suckers and losers".

The Great Escaper if able.

No spoilers, but it opened my eyes to something that I hadn't thought about about that war.

I've been a peacenik most of my life. I went on a hunger strike during Vietnam. At 98 pounds, I was finally convinced to start eating again. I was very ill.

I live now to fight for democracy another day, every day, on behalf of everyone who died before me in the process. I'm a Daughter of the American Revolution.

Unfortunately, we live in a time of war that really just moves around the globe at various intervals.

It's always closer than we think and comes in many forms.

I hurt for the injustices that all of our veterans are suffering from the Epstein Regime.

I'm curious about how you arrived at this number.

Thanks again for thinking of them and sharing this, VGNonly.

❤️🤍💙

US Dept. of Veteran Affairs WW2.

They said since the end of 2025, 45,418 vets are left.

Silver Star (and a Bronze Star) for Heroism during the Battle of the Bulge, running towards enemy artillery to better ascertain their positions, as he was in charge of his artillery positions. He'd have turned 111 this month, haha!

So suffice it to say I honor all war veterans, but Memorial Day is special.

Veterans Day is all but forgotten. In 2018 I went there; 11th day 11th hour, not a person to be seen.

He landed in France 3 weeks after D-Day. He got hit by a mortar shell in Sept. near Nancy France. German doctors amputated his right leg, then sent to a POW camp. He had two more operations from Yugoslavian and Russian MDs. He was in Co G 134 Infantry Regiment 35th Infantry Division. Had he not been wounded and captured, he would have likely been at the Bulge.

My father was the engineering officer on a LST, Ensign later LTjg. He was at Leyte, landed at Mindanao and Balikpapan. He served under Admiral Kincaid 7th Fleet. He was on board his ship in Tokyo Harbor on September 2 1945, hearing the formal surrender on shipboard radio.

Those were Iron Men!

We owe them so much.

I have seen the last Civil War veteran and the last WWI veteran. Soon it will be the last WWII veteran. My turn as a Vietnam War veteran will come soon enough.