Exactly how did Google come up with the ad: “Democrats Suck! Vote Republican!”?
My dad remembers talking to civil war verterans as well.
My dad remembers seeing fewer and fewer civil war vets in the parade each year. (He was born in 1942).
Three of four years ago, I tracked down the number of surviving WWI vets as a trivia question (I think it was around 100), and there was still someone living receiving benefits for their CHILD. But that might well have been a case of a WWI parent later remarrying a younger person, so it was really their step-child.
GAR?
Grand Army of the Republic, the Federal veterans’ association. The Condederate veterans had their own organization but I’m drawing a blank on what its name was right now.
The Confederate group was the UCV, United Confederate Veterans
I love this type of thing – reading about these people who are living links to what is practically ancient history. For anyone who’s interested in that type of thing, about a year ago I started a similar thread that yielded many interesting stories.