CNN: 103-year-old WWI veteran celebrates Memorial Day

[jenmdixon]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/29/wwi.veteran.ap/

103-year-old WWI veteran celebrates Memorial Day

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/05/29/wwi.veteran.ap/vert.wwi.veteran.ap.jpg
Lloyd Brown lied about his age to join the military in 1918.

CHARLOTTE HALL, Maryland (AP) -- Memorial Day parade organizers were considering using actors to represent veterans of World War I when they learned about 103-year-old Lloyd Brown -- one of the last living veterans of the war.

Brown plans to ride in the parade Monday in Washington to represent the rest of the 4.7 million U.S. servicemen who took part in the Great War. He is one of the 30 who are still alive, according to an unofficial estimate by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"World War I people are getting scarce," Brown said. "Nothing can be done about that."

Brown was 16 when he lied about his age so he could join the Allied cause in 1918. His Maryland driver's license still lists his birth date as October 7, 1899, instead of the correct 1901.

"Everybody was patriotic; everybody wanted to join," Brown told The Washington Post. "Those who joined were local heroes, well received on the public streets."

Brown still remembers patrolling the North Atlantic for enemy submarines aboard the USS New Hampshire.

He reenlisted after the war as a Navy musician, and played cello in Australia as a member of an admiral's orchestra. He later served as a firefighter in the District of Columbia, and sold antiques in Charlotte Hall, in southern Maryland.

Brown retains enough white hair to comb. He still has a driver's license but favors a golf cart to drive to the end of his driveway to pick up the mail.

He lives alone but his daughter, Nancy Espina, checks on him every day. Son-in-law Thomas Espina said Brown doesn't allow anything to bother him too much, including aging.

"I don't consider it a long life," Brown said. "I feel as though there are a lot of people around my age."

[jenmdixon]

Originally posted by jenmdixon
Brown plans to ride in the parade Monday in Washington to represent the rest of the 4.7 million U.S. servicemen who took part in the Great War. He is one of the 30 who are still alive, according to an unofficial estimate by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"World War I people are getting scarce," Brown said. "Nothing can be done about that."

Wow. There are only 30 left.

It's hard to believe sometimes that it's been that long since The War To End All Wars.

I remember meeting several WWI vets in a nursing home I used to volunteer at years ago. A nicer bunch of men you will never meet. One had been in the home since he was shipped home from the battlefield.

Here's to those brave veterans. Godspeed. :cheers:

[jenmdixon]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/28/AR2005052800891.html

Saluting a Living Symbol of World War I
Md. Man, 103, to Be Honored on Memorial Day

By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 29, 2005; C01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2005/05/28/PH2005052801022.jpg
Lloyd Brown of Charlotte Hall fudged his age to enlist in the Navy during World War I. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)

In his 103 years, Lloyd Brown has learned these life lessons: Help out with the dirty work, be fair to your colleagues and follow the rules. But Brown will be honored tomorrow because he broke the rules.

Brown is one of the nation's last veterans of World War I. He will ride in the National Memorial Day Parade as a living testament to the 4.7 million U.S. servicemen of the Great War -- and to longevity.

Brown was eager to join the Allied cause in 1918, but he was only 16, so he fibbed about his age. His Maryland driver's license still lists 10-7-99 -- that's 1899 -- as his birth date, instead of the correct 1901.

"Everybody was patriotic; everybody wanted to join," he said. "Those who joined were local heroes, well received on the public streets."

It didn't hurt, he added with a grin, that the boys in uniform were popular with the girls.

Parade organizers were preparing to recruit war reenactors to represent World War I veterans when they learned about Brown, who lives in Southern Maryland. He is one of 30 veterans still living, according to an unofficial estimate kept by the Department of Veterans Affairs. And that roster is rapidly dwindling.

The son of a Missouri stonemason, Brown battled Spanish flu in Philadelphia; played cello in Australia as a member of the Navy admiral's orchestra; served as a firefighter for the District; and sold antique clocks and furniture in Charlotte Hall, where he lives now.

He has survived six brothers, two sisters, two wives and one son.

At times, Brown loses track of the moment, but he speaks about the past as if it were the present. From a rocking chair in his living room, Brown recalled patrolling the North Atlantic for enemy submarines aboard the USS New Hampshire. He described with scientific precision how he learned to splice ropes and fold his sleeping hammock into a string bean.

Brown reenlisted after the war as a musician on the USS Seattle, traveling to Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia, and developing an appetite that has not diminished with age.

When he left the Navy in 1926, Brown was 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds. At 103, he is 5 feet 8 inches and 190 pounds, with lively blue eyes and enough white hair to comb.

"As long as I've got plenty of food and relatives nearby, I never get too lonely," he said.

Brown lives alone, but he has regular visits from Meals on Wheels and his daughter, Nancy Espina, who checks on him every day.

He prefers cornflakes to eggs or ham and devours apple and lemon meringue pies. He does not apologize for puffing on a tobacco pipe, a habit since he was a kid.

"I don't inhale the smoke, therefore the smoke doesn't get in my lungs at all," he explained.

He keeps the hours of a teenager, watching television news programs until after midnight and sleeping past noon. Last month, he jetted to Daytona Beach, Fla., to visit family and friends.

When Espina, who is 65, was tired after touring each day, she recalled her father would ask, " 'What's on the agenda for tomorrow?' "

Although he has a driver's license, Brown favors the golf cart parked in front of his mint green cottage. He drives to the end of the gravel driveway to pick up the mail and has been known to cross busy Route 5 to visit the shopping plaza, despite warnings from local law enforcement officers.

In the past six months, Brown began using a walker when the hip that he broke nine years ago started bothering him again.

But one of his secrets, son-in-law Thomas Espina said, is not allowing anything to bother him too much. And that goes for aging.

"I don't consider it a long life," Brown said. "I feel as though there are a lot of people around my age."

A few minutes later, Brown remembered that he has outlived the magazine he used to receive for World War I veterans. It stopped publishing a few years ago.

"World War I people are getting scarce," he said. "Nothing can be done about that."

[TD_washingtonredskins]

103 and smokes a pipe...

I guess nothing is certain!

[zoony]

If I fought in the great war and lived to tell about it, I'd smoke whatever the hell I wanted to... :)

[ntotoro]

God bless him. 103 years-old and he still has more hair than I do... :laugh:

Nick