WWII, Korea vets are dwindling

That sounds like a much more fun health plan than vegetables, milk and mild, mild women.

Allingham, a British World War I veteran, was the world’s oldest living man until July 19, when he died quietly in his sleep. Fellow World War I veteran Harry Patch, also from England, passed away Sunday at age 111. Patch was Great Britain’s last World War I veteran living in England. Canada’s only remaining veteran of the Great War turned 109 on July 23, and Frank Buckles, America’s lone World War I vet, is 108.

Sadly, it won’t be long before there’s no one left who fought in one of the world’s largest and most significant conflicts. World War I is important because, in a nutshell, it made the United States a global superpower and sowed the seeds for World War II. Oddly enough, no national World War I memorial exists, even though more than 100,000 Americans died in the "war to end all wars," according to http://www.wwimemorial.org/

As I read the local obituaries each day, there’s almost always at least one World War II or Korean War veteran among the dearly departed. At some point in the not-too-distant future, we’re going to run out of those who experienced either or both of these two wars on a first-hand basis; World War II and the Korean War occurred a mere five years apart, after all.

At the risk of being morbid, every man or woman who served in World War II is at least 85 years old or so, and even with advances in modern health care, our precious remaining veterans, like their World War I counterparts, gradually are being lost to old age. A May 24, 2008, article on www.foxnews.com stated that more than 1,000 World War II vets are dying every day across the United States, and a historian with the World War II Museum believes that all of the war’s combatants will be gone by 2020 — just 11 years from now.

For an assignment during my junior year of high school, our American history teachers asked each student to interview a veteran. I was able to talk to and record a few minutes of dialogue with my then-girlfriend’s grandfather, about what life was like during World War II. When I was asked to play the audio tape of the interview in front of the entire class, I was horrified that the old man’s words were nothing more than a muddle at best; I’m pretty sure I failed to adjust the volume correctly during the interview. Since then, I’ve never forgiven myself for messing up the chance to capture a bit of someone’s family history — not to mention the poor grade I received.

If you know of a World War II or Korean War veteran here in the Rio Grande Valley — and there are hopefully still quite a few — ask them about their service. Or better yet, preserve their memories by writing down their story or electronically recording their words. Just make sure you turn up the volume.

Our local veterans answered the call of duty when they were needed most. The least we can do is to make sure their sacrifices won’t go unnoticed.