Of course, there are still World War II vets alive. Not many, though. Most are pushing 100, and every month the number lowers. Fast.
The war ended in 1945. Do the math. Not that these people are old, they are on borrowed time. In 2024, there were still about 66,000 WWII war veterans in the U.S. The UK? Fewer than 70,000. In New Zealand, you’re talking few hundred in smaller places. That’s it. This isn’t some slow fade. It’s a cliff.
Yet a few of them were still kicking, still appearing.
Romanian Ilie Ciocan is 111 and still breathing. The odds of that were freakish.
104 year old Romay Davis was a member of the only all-Black, all female unit who went overseas. The 6888th. In fact, most people have not even heard of it.
Harold Terens? Died married in Normandy on 80th anniversary of D-Day. He helped liberate it in 1944. Years later, 80 to be exact, I went back to start a new life. That’s wild.
John Ira Schab was Pearl Harbor. Still alive. Still remembering.
Thing is, these are not just history. They’re warnings, memories, echoes. And they’re slipping away. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. A real conversation can’t go into Google. You won’t see that look in the eye from a textbook.
Indeed, stop if you ever meet one of them. Listen. Whether you were doing anything. They are the last living pieces of a world that very nearly burned itself to the ground.
Not that we’re that far from the edge ourselves.
