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This was an interesting stat I saw in a story about the reunion of the USS Minneapolis:
Of the 16.1 million men and women who served in the war, fewer than 3 million remain alive. WWII vets die off at the rate of about 1,000 a day, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
It's interesting of course that there are still nearly 20% of the original vets from the war still alive. I didn't realize there would be that many given the time that has passed - over 60 years - since the war ended. Who knows....the last remaining vet could still be with us in 2030 or beyond.
Possible but somewhat doubtful too… my dad passed away at 77 just over three years ago; he was very young entering the war (lied about age). Given that in 2030 he'd have been at 103 and a kid of 15 lying his way in in '45 would be 100 by then….
Actually that's what I was thinking….a 15 y.o. kid lying about his age living to be 100….very possible, I'd think.
Sadly most of the folks I met that fell into that catagory have already gone to their greater reward. Many of the WWII guys were exposed to or suffered from things that take a toll later and as good as science is it's kind of hard to fix a machine that is wearing out anyway and survived such abuse as our Vets took.A kid coming in right at the end, seeing little or no action might have a chance at a Centential but more likely he would have paid a similar kind of price in Korea or even VN (early on). The Vets today are surviving better but at what cost to them later?With Vets Day coming God Bless 'em all, every one.
