PEW Think Tank: About 300,000 U.S. World War II veterans are alive in 2020, 14,500 of them are female

On 75th anniversary of V-E Day, about 300,000 American WWII veterans are alive

PEW Research Think Tank
Katherine Schaeffer
May 8, 2020

A World War II veteran participates in a Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11, 2019, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

May 8 marks the 75th anniversary of V-E Day, when World War II came to an end in Europe. In the United States, V-E Day commemorations will honor the 16 million Americans who served during the war, even as only a small share of those veterans are alive today.

About 300,000 U.S. World War II veterans are alive in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which has published projections of the number of living veterans from 2015 to 2045. WWII service members’ numbers have dwindled from around 939,000 in 2015. Most living veterans from the war are in their 90s, though some are considerably older.

Of the 350,000 women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the war, about 14,500 are alive today.
read it here

93 Year Old WWII Veteran's VA Pension Claim Tied Up For 18 Months?

93-year-old veteran's pension application held-up for 18 months

WTVR 6 News
By: Bree Sison
Feb 11, 2020

The Problem Solvers reached out to at least a half dozen officials and advocacy groups on Jerry Horn’s behalf. Congressman Ben Cline called Bob Horn in late January to say his office had secured a favorable outcome in the case. The next day, Bob received letters from other federal officials and the VA stating the pension had been denied.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The family of a 93-year-old veteran in Charlottesville cannot understand why the Veterans Administration has taken more than 18 months to approve a pension application.

“It’s very frustrating. He deserves this. He earned it,” Dr. Bob Horn tells the Problem Solvers.

Like many members of the Greatest Generation, Bob’s father Jerome Horn did not talk about his experience serving in the United States Army during World War II.
read it here

Widow discovered husband's secret life...diary of PTSD and POW

Discovery of WWII diary revives a Sarasota widow’s trauma

Herald Tribune
Billy Cox
September 6, 2019

Lorraine Glixon recently discovered her late husband’s World War II diary. Harry Glixon was a POW who was part of a historic prisoner exchange with Nazi Germany in 1944.

SARASOTA — Struggling through Parkinson’s disease, dementia and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, Harry Glixon spent the last decade of his life racing the undertaker, pecking away at the keyboards with the two-fingered intensity that characterized his typing skills.

His widow, Lorraine, describes him as “obsessed” as the old warrior demanded more and more of her time to edit the manuscript he would call “My Story.” Over the years, she would sometimes hear him coming to terms with what he’d done and seen, raising his voice in his study, “I can’t do this! I can’t do this!” And Lorraine discovered she couldn’t do it, either.

After Lorraine gave up, Harry relied on three outside editors/writers to advance his memoir to an abrupt ending in 1962. That’s how far he’d gotten when, in 2006, 11 years into “My Story,” Harry took a spill in his motorized wheelchair and never recovered. He died a year later, at age 86.

The unfinished work that Harry Glixon left behind was so raw — and in so many ways, unflattering — that he requested in the preface that “the contents of my book be kept from the children until at least their 25th birthday.”

He had hoped, according to that preface, that his accounting would “demonstrate that I was a good person and not selfish.” But he also feared his journey through the past would “regenerate old demons and impact and diminish my current happiness.” And that, according to Lorraine, is exactly what happened.

Of the unfinished memoir’s 304 pages, roughly 80 are devoted to World War II, during which Harry Glixon earned two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star with V for Valor and a recommendation for the Distinguished Service Cross. He also made history in such unprecedented fashion, it played on newsreels that cheered audiences in both the U.S. and Germany.
read it here

Calverton Cemetery will 'never let a veteran be forgotten'

Calverton cemetery employees strive to 'never let a veteran be forgotten'

Newsday Long Island
By Martin C. Evans
August 17, 2019

“I turned away and just felt, wow…,” he said. "I felt good that I could make that family feel a little better than when they had when they came here.”

Douglas Chong is a former Army tank mechanic who now works as a landscaper at Calverton National Cemetery. Photo Credit: Martin C. Evans

Richard Hilts was a specialist in the Army a decade ago when his wife’s grandfather, a Navy man who served in World War II, was laid to rest at Calverton National Cemetery.

For the interment, Hilts volunteered to replace a member of the color guard. In his neatly pressed uniform, moving with ceremonial deliberateness, the soldier helped fold the burial flag into a tight tricorner, then knelt to give the colors to the widow.

Today, Hilts is one of the cemetery's nearly 100 employees — 62 are former service members — who prepare final resting places for thousands of veterans every year.

“That tells the story of our mission here — to never let a veteran be forgotten,” said Hilts, 35, of Coram, who studied on the GI Bill at St. Johns University, then went to work setting gravestones at the cemetery the day after he graduated in 2015.

“Yes, we lost some people while I was over there,” Hilts said of his three combat tours in Iraq. “So I’d say this is especially personal for me.”
read it here

Mayor Bill de Blasio's broke silence on suicide in his own family

Mayor Draws on Father’s Suicide in Dealing With Spike Among NYPD Officers

The Wall Street Journal
By Katie Honan and Tyler Blint-Welsh
Aug. 15, 2019

Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to stem the spike in suicides among New York Police Department officers this year by speaking openly about his father’s suicide in urging them to seek help.

The mayor talked about his family’s experience in a letter he sent to NYPD officers on Wednesday night, shortly before a longtime officer became the ninth member of the department to die by suicide this year. The 56-year-old officer, who had been with the department for 25 years and served in its Strategic Response Group, fatally shot himself at a home in Laurelton, Queens, according to a police official. His suicide came a day after another officer fatally shot himself in Yonkers.

In his letter, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, detailed the depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism that his father, a decorated World War II veteran, battled before killing himself. His father, who lost part of his leg during the war, died when Mr. de Blasio was 18 years old. Although his father was always strong physically, the mayor said, it “wasn’t the kind of strength he needed.”

“My dad couldn’t deal with what he had lived through,” he said in the letter.

“I say from experience: There is strength in asking for help—in doing the right thing for you and your family.”
read it here

#BreakTheSilence

and

#TakeBackYourLife

WWII Veteran was buried as "homeless" because donated body was cremated

Son of deceased veteran steps forward: Dad wasn't homeless

Newsday
By Martin C. Evans
July 19, 2019

The crematory received the remains from Stony Brook University School of Medicine, where Franklyn Lansner had donated his body for medical research, his son said. The family had expected the school to send the body to the crematory, he said.

Frank Lansner Sr., seated, is surrounded by family members at his home in Westbury. The photo was taken in 2017. Photo Credit: Lansner Family

The son of a World War II Navy radar technician whose remains were buried in a ceremony for homeless veterans wants Long Islanders to know that his father wasn't homeless and had a family who loved him.

Tom Lansner learned about his father's burial by reading a Newsday account of the ceremony, which was last Thursday at Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn.

The remains of Franklyn R. Lansner Sr., 94, and four other veterans were buried after a funeral presented by Missing In America Project, a national group that buries the unclaimed remains of veterans, and Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, a cooperative effort of the Dignity Memorial funeral service providers, veterans groups and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Relatives of Air Force veteran Irving Beiser, 84, also have come forward to say he wasn't homeless.

Franklyn Lansner died of pancreatic cancer two years ago at his Westbury home, surrounded by his family, his son said.

Despite the confusion, Tom Lansner said he was pleased that his father was recognized for his military service: "I'm honored that he had a veteran's burial."

Tom Lansner said he thinks the mix-up with his father's remains may have happened because of a miscommunication between himself and the Nassau-Suffolk Crematory, a funeral home in Lake Ronkonkoma.
read it here

World War II veteran James Pepe, hero among us

Heroes Among Us: Navy Veteran James Pepe Helped Many Wounded Soldiers During World War II

CBS 4 News
By Marybel Rodriguez
July 12, 2019

U.S. Navy World War II veteran Jimmy Pepe was awarded the bronze star for his service. He was recently honored at a Florida Panthers game.

SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – Now to a weekly segment you will only see right here on CBS4.

Every Friday, in partnership with the Florida Panthers, we put the spotlight on a hero among us men or women who have gone beyond the call of duty for our country.

This week we’re meeting World War II veteran James Pepe.

James Pepe, who goes by Jimmy, served in the United States Navy as a pharmacist from 1943 to 1945. He enlisted and was part of the new Georgia-Rendova-Vanganu Campaign.

Pepe’s job was to take care of the wounded and although he says they were under very stressful conditions he did whatever he had to do save lives.
read it here

80 years later, Tuskegee Airman received diploma

Tuskegee Airman receives diploma 80 years after high school

By: The Associated Press

July 1, 2019

   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri man who was unable to finish high school but went on to serve as crew chief

A Tuskegee Airman displays a Congressional Gold Medal given to all Tuskegee Airmen during a ceremony commemorating Veterans Day and honoring the group of World War II airmen on Nov. 11, 2013, in Washington. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports that James Shipley got the diploma in a Sunday ceremony.
read it here

“Candy Bomber” — will always be a hero in the eyes of the German children

'Candy bomber' joins tens of thousands on base for 70th anniversary of Berlin Airlift’s end

STARS AND STRIPES
By JENNIFER H. SVAN
Published: June 10, 2019

WIESBADEN, Germany — Retired U.S. Col. Gail Halvorsen — better known in these parts as the “Candy Bomber” — will always be a hero in the eyes of the German children who grew up in postwar Berlin, no matter how old they grow.

Retired U.S. Col. Gail Halvorsen greets spectators after arriving at the 70th anniversary commemoration of the end of the Berlin Airlift at Clay Kaserne airfield, Monday, June 10, 2019. BRIAN FERGUSON/STARS AND STRIPES

Seventy years after the lifting of the Soviet blockade that cut off the German capital from food, fuel and other essential supplies, those children still remember the delight of a chocolate bar tied to a makeshift parachute dropping from the sky.

On Monday, amid a grand celebration at Clay Kaserne airfield to commemorate the end of the Berlin Airlift, some of those children, now well into their 70s, thanked Halvorsen for an act that not only took the edge off their hunger but gave them hope during the bleak years after World War II.

“I’m very, very thankful,” Vera Mitschrich, who was 5 when the largest postwar relief operation began, told Halvorsen on Monday. “I’m so proud of you. You gave us hope. You gave us food. I never, never will forget you.”
read more here

Paratrooper Veteran Jumps In D-Day Rerun at 97!

97-Year-Old U.S. Paratrooper Veteran Jumps In D-Day Rerun

NBC News
Published on Jun 5, 2019

Tom Rice was with the 101st Airborne Division on 6th June 1944 as they parachuted into Nazi-occupied France, at night and under fire.

'Ready! Go!': I Jumped Out Of A Vintage WWII Plane For D-Day

NPR
LUKE SHARRET
June 6, 2019

Luke Sharrett is a freelance photographer and contributor to NPR. He is based in Louisville, Ky., and has had a lifelong interest in World War II.

This week, the world is marking 75 years since the D-Day invasion. On June 6, 1944, wave after wave of American, British, Canadian and French military personnel descended upon northern France's coast by air and sea in one of the largest military operations in history — a tipping point for World War II.

As the anniversary approached, I started planning a pilgrimage to the hallowed shores and hedgerows of Normandy. I needed to pay my respects to the brave men who cracked Adolf Hitler's Atlantic Wall of defenses.

This desire propelled me into the ranks of the World War II Airborne Demonstration Team. Based in Frederick, Okla., the team is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to remembering, honoring and serving the memory of our ever-dwindling WWII veteran population. We accomplish this by performing round-canopy static line parachute jumps dressed in authentic WWII equipment at air shows and veterans' events around the United States and Europe.

Two British World War II airborne veterans shake hands on the flight line at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Luke Sharrett for NPR

read more here

WWII veteran flew 1,500 miles for grandson's Air Force Academy graduation

101-year-old WWII veteran flew 1,500 miles to commission grandson at Air Force Academy

FOX 31
BY PHIL RANKIN
May 31, 2019

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Joseph Kloc is among the 989 members of the US Air Force Academy's class of 2019 who graduated this week.

But a unique moment with family set his week apart.

His grandfather, 101-year-old World War II veteran Walter Kloc, flew from Amherst, New York to commission his grandson.

"I'm so excited for him," Joseph’s father William Kloc told WGRZ before the trip to Colorado. "He's fulfilling his dream and he was so excited that his grandfather, a World War II Air Force bombardier pilot, could come and commission him."

The moment was captured on camera by the Air Force Academy.

"Walter received a standing ovation, and everyone in the room was gifted with a memory they’ll never forget," the academy said.
read more here

Hear a 98-year-old Marine veteran tell her story

'I've been a helper all my life': Hear a 98-year-old Marine veteran tell her story

River Towns
By Hannah Black
May 29, 2019

In 2017, Fremont was honored for her service at an annual Marine Corps birthday ball in Washington D.C. She was the oldest Marine in attendance and shared a piece of cake with the youngest Marine at the ball, a tradition meant to symbolize the passing of knowledge on to a younger generation.

June Fremont is pictured at Woodbury Senior Living on May 9, 2019, in Woodbury. Photo courtesy of Margaret Wachholz1

WOODBURY — Sitting in an armchair in her apartment at the Woodbury Senior Living villas, June Fremont flipped through a scrapbook, landing on a page that featured group photos of four young women. On the bottom left, the women stood in front of a backdrop of palm trees, all wearing grass skirts. In the photo above, they all held coconuts, one jokingly holding it up to her ear as if listening to it.

"When we got off the train, they ... took us all over Hawaii doing publicity shots," Fremont said.

It was 1945 and she was stationed at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, just four years after the Japanese military had attacked the naval base. Fremont, 98, had volunteered to be part of the first wave of U.S. Marine Corps women to serve "overseas," as Hawaii wouldn't become a state until 1959.
read more here

John Pinto, a Navajo Code Talker passed away

WWII Code Talker and longtime NM lawmaker dies at 94

The Associated Press
By: Morgan Lee and Mary Hudetz
May 26, 2019

An unassuming appearance and manner belied Pinto's political determination that carried him through 42 years in the Legislature. Laurie Canepa, the senior librarian for the Legislative Council Service, said that made him the longest serving senator in state history.

In this Feb. 2, 2018, file photo Democratic New Mexico state Sen. John Pinto talks about his career as a lawmaker on American Indian Day in the Legislature on in Santa Fe, N.M. (Morgan Lee/AP)

SANTA FE, N.M. — John Pinto, a Navajo Code Talker in World War II who became one of the nation’s longest serving Native American elected officials as a New Mexico state senator, has died. He was 94.

Senate colleague Michael Padilla confirmed Pinto's death in Gallup on Friday after years of suffering from various illnesses that rarely kept him from his duties.

After serving as a Marine, Pinto was elected to the Senate in 1976 and represented a district that includes the Navajo Nation for more than four decades. The region is one of the poorest in the country.

"Words cannot express the sadness we feel for the loss of a great Diné warrior," said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, using the indigenous word for Navajo. "He dedicated his life to helping others."
read more here

WWII Veteran lived long enough to see memorials in Washington, but not home again

95-year-old WWII vet dies returning from Honor Flight to Washington

FOX 5 News
BY BOB PONTING AND JEFF MCADAM
MAY 6, 2019

SAN DIEGO – A local World War II veteran who flew to Washington as part of an Honor Flight collapsed and died during the return trip to San Diego, the organization that organized the flight said.

"The fella who caught my dad came up to me and said, 'listen, your dad, within 5 seconds of having him in my arms was gone,'” said Bruce Manchel, the veteran's son.

Frank Manchel, 95, was accompanied by his son, Bruce, on the trip organized by Honor Flight San Diego. On Sunday, he boarded the flight home from Baltimore Washington International Airport to San Diego after spending the weekend in Washington, D.C. During the flight, Manchel collapsed. Others on the flight tried to resuscitate Manchel, but he was pronounced dead.

Before the plane landed, Bruce tells FOX5 that his father was placed next to him on the flight. Before the other veterans on board deplaned, each one of them stopped in front of his dad.
read more here

First Navy SEAL team has last living member

Last remaining member of first-ever Navy SEAL team celebrates 94th birthday

CBS NEWS
BY CAITLIN O'KANE
APRIL 24, 2019

From the beginning, Dawson was a bit rebellious. When he missed the deadline to apply for the unit, he snuck through a window to add his application was in the pile. He was eventually chosen to be a part of the team of 10, specializing in explosives.

Bill Dawson, the last living member of the first-ever U.S. Navy SEAL team, celebrated his 94th birthday earlier this month, and CBS News visited him to hear stories that only he can tell.

Dawson was just 17 when he enlisted. To get on the elite team, he snuck through a window to hand in his application past the deadline.

Dawson is now in a wheelchair and he uses oxygen, but he was once part of an elite special operations team. The veteran from Washington, D.C. was just 17 years old when he enlisted in the Navy and he and his teammates were deployed on top-secret and often life-threatening missions.

Before they were known as Navy SEALs, they were Frogmen. "There was no such thing as SEALs, so Frogmen seemed like an appropriate name," Dawson told CBS News.

Dawson served in the Pacific arena from 1943 to 1945, when the Japanese surrendered. As the last living Frogman, he doesn't have anyone to relate to. But he does have "the book" — a three-ring binder that is so stuffed with information, it's about six inches thick.

Dawson admits it wasn't always easy to stay brave. "Of course I was scared," he said. "Anybody tells you they wasn't scared, I'll call them a liar." He said it isn't about not being scared — it's about what you do when you are scared.
read more here

Unsolved Mysteries "Gabby's Bones" given proper military funeral in Wyoming

Murdered WWII vet's body found in Wyoming, given military funeral

KGWN News
April 3, 2019

The story also got national attention on the former NBC-TV true crime series "Unsolved Mysteries" during a February 1993 episode, featuring "Gabby's Bones."

Wyoming Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors team members conduct a flag ceremony for Technician 5 Joseph Mulvaney, who received long-overdue honors March 29, 2019 at a memorial service in Cody, Wyoming.

Mulvaney, an Illinois Army National Guard member when he deployed to the Pacific Theater for World War II, was murdered in Iowa in 1963. His remains were discovered in Thermopolis, Wyoming in 1992. It was not until 2017 that he was identified, through DNA testing, as the grandfather of Waukee, Iowa resident Shelley Statler. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jimmy McGuire)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (WYANG) - The Wyoming Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors team conducted full military rites, which included a 21-gun salute, during a long-overdue memorial service in Cody, Wyoming, for Joseph Junior Mulvaney.

Mulvaney was an Illinois Army National Guard Technician 5 when he deployed to the Pacific Theater during World War II. His story has been an interesting one, and some key players in discovering it were in attendance at the March 29 service including a granddaughter and her family, homicide investigators and a DNA analyst.

The rest of the story, gleaned from various sources, follows.

In 1987 a man named John David Morris, also known as Gabby, left an old military padlocked footlocker in a shed at Newell Sessions' Thermopolis, Wyoming property. Morris said he would return for it when he settled down.

About five years later and still no sign of Morris, curiosity got to Sessions. He cut through the padlock with a torch and opened the trunk. In it, he found a human skeleton, wrapped in a piece of plastic, a belt and a rotting grocery bag.
read more here

WWII Veteran's Son, John Mayer, has foundation for veterans

John Mayer launches foundation for veterans’ health

Press Herald
February 28, 2019

Mayer, whose father was a World War II veteran, said part of the reason he started The Heart and Armor Foundation came after he visited the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in 2008.

John Mayer, a Grammy-winning singer, has started The Heart and Armor Foundation, which plans to focus on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and meeting the needs of women veterans. Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP, file

NEW YORK — John Mayer is launching a foundation focused on improving the health of veterans through scientific research.

The Grammy-winning singer announced The Heart and Armor Foundation, which plans to focus on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and meeting the emerging needs of women veterans.

John Mayer, a Grammy-winning singer, has started The Heart and Armor Foundation, which plans to focus on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and meeting the needs of women veterans. John Mayer, a Grammy-winning singer, has started The Heart and Armor Foundation, which plans to focus on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and meeting the needs of women veterans. Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP, file Though he publicly announced the foundation Friday, Mayer has been working on the organization since 2012 alongside veterans, scientists and clinicians.

“We’re going to the public with things like published research papers and having raised enough money to really build some pilot programs. We have some really great data and … we want it to be working first so that a lot of the questions were answered before we brought things to people by way of awareness,” Mayer said in an interview. “I think it just makes it that much more compelling and much more concise to bring it to people with the message being, ‘Hey, this is not taking something that is zero to try to get it to five. This is something that is at 50 and we want to get it to 100.'”
read more here

WWII veteran celebrated 92nd birthday sharing Chick-Fil-A with total strangers

WWII veteran buys $1,500 worth of Chick-Fil-A for military families to celebrate 92nd birthday

WTOL 11 News
Author: Samantha Kubota
February 18, 2019

A California man turning 92 wanted to celebrate his birthday by giving back to military families.

Edmund Rusinek, who himself is a World War II veteran, dropped by his neighborhood Chick-Fil-A last Friday and handed the manager a wad of cash, the Orange County Register reported, and some fliers to explain his contribution. The manager told the newspaper she burned through the cash by Saturday morning, and he gave her permission to use his credit card. They estimated he had spent about $1,500 on the idea.

"I guess I’ll know for sure when I get my credit card bill in the mail," he told the paper. "I’m not a rich man – but this, I can afford.”

“Edmund is a regular customer,” Giola Arkis, the restaurant manager, told the newspaper. “He always comes in for a salad, cookies and coffee. We call him our local sweet thing.”
read more here

Help Herbie, WW2 Veteran, Dying Wish Come True

Fundraiser Underway to Help 96-Year-Old WWII Veteran Live Final Days at Home Care Facility

Faithwire
February 18, 2019

Friends of Gordon’s set up a GoFundMe campaign called “Herbie WW2 Veterans Dying Wish” to help cover the costs. It had raised more than $11,000 of the $35,712 goal as of the weekend.

A community is trying to give back to a hero who served this country by ensuring he gets to live his final days comfortably in the home care facility where he spent the last years with his late wife.

World War II U.S. Army veteran Herb Gordon, 96, has had multiple brushes with death, the latest being in 2017, when he broke his neck while volunteering at a medical center, he told WPBF-TV.

“They were so certain I was going to die on the operating table, but I had my family here and God listened,” Gordon said of his caretakers at the Atria Senior Living Facility in Lantana, Florida. “And here I am.”
read more here

WWII Veteran Harry Rockafeller stands tall

NJ police install 9-foot statue to honor veteran

Police One 
January 25, 2019

"Rocky we did it!"

“It was really an overwhelming sense of pride and honor,” Malone said of the dedication. “He’s no longer with us, but his memory and his legacy are going to be permanent reminders here in Wall Township of the sacrifice of all World War II veterans.”

WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ

New Jersey police officers launched a fundraiser last spring in an effort to honor a highly decorated World War II veteran. The result is now displayed outside their station. 

Patrolman Mike Malone and his fellow Wall Township police officers hoped to raise enough money for a memorial service, but the outpouring of support resulted in $130,000 - enough to create a bronze statue of WWII veteran Harry Rockafeller, who recently died at the age of 100, NJ.com reports. read more here