What will we do when the last World War II veteran dies? Seventy-five years ago today, the United States was less than a month into the invasion of Normandy. This invasion – the largest in our history – involved more than 160,000 allied forces and thousands of ships and aircraft. By July 4, U.S. forces were fighting in horrible weather amid the hedge rows of France in an effort to drive out the Germans.
William C. Coleman, one of the paratroopers who dropped into Normandy the night before the invasion, was a prisoner of war the day America celebrated the Fourth of July. Wounded as he dropped out of the sky, Coleman, a 19-year-old from Orlando, fought bravely before being captured and imprisoned until he escaped as World War II was ending in the European theater.
His story – and his life following the war – was incredible to hear. He was an amazingly successful state politician and businessman and was instrumental in helping with veterans’ causes for decades after he came home from war.
William Coleman died in 2012. Before his death, my children were fortunate enough to sit with their great uncle as he shared with them what the last war for American liberty was like for him and countless other soldiers.
When I was a kid, I got to sit with Joe Dickson (pictured above), a gunner on a tank serving under Gen. George Patton. Dickson, from tiny Hugo, Okla., was a giant of a man with a laugh and good nature matching his size. When I would ask him about the war, he was always careful to not talk about the deaths he was part of, but did share stories that brought the sacrifice he had made to light. I thought he was bigger than life.
All over America there are other veterans of World War II with similar life stories, yet every day more than 370 WWII vets pass away. Of the 16 million Americans who served during this time, only 600,000 are still alive – with most of them well into their 90s.
It is deeply troubling to me, and undoubtedly, many more Americans, to contemplate what our country is losing every day. With the passing of every veteran, we are losing a connection with a time when an entire country rose up to fight for and defend the principles of constitutional liberty that the Founding Fathers spoke of on July 4, 1776. We are also losing historians, in effect, who lived through the horrors of war and witnessed the consequences of allowing nationalistic leaders to turn demagoguery into mass killing. With the loss of these eyewitnesses to history our nation – and others – we risk repeating the grave mistakes made in the years leading up to and including World War II.
Consider this:
Recently, a study published by U.S. News & World Report found that 45 percent of Americans could not name one World War II-era concentration camp, and 66 percent of millennials had never heard of Auschwitz. I wonder what would happen if you asked the average college student in America to identify various events like D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, Pearl Harbor and more? Do you think the typical American would be able to write an essay about Hiroshima or identify the Axis powers?
I seriously doubt it.
Ten years from now, the average WWII veteran will be over 100 years old. Twenty years from now they will be gone, and along with them the ability of the rest of us to sit at their feet and hear about what it was like to defend a nation during war; what it was like to have millions of citizens rally to gather needed supplies and what it felt like to witness the power of American capitalism out-produce all of our enemies in stunning fashion to equip our fighting forces with unprecedented military superiority.
On our 242nd birthday, perhaps we all should try to find veterans of this war and ask them questions, listen to their stories and thank them for preserving liberty for all of us.
