# Are There Any WWII Generals Still Alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718 "2016-01-10T19:15:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/21 "2016-01-11T14:53:27Z")
The same site mention Canadian general Norman Elliot Rodger as being brigadier general during WWII. He apparently died in 2010, aged 103. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/22 "2016-01-11T14:57:50Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I remember that during some major celebration of the D Day (in 2004, I think), I noticed they mentioned a Polish WWII general still alive then. He might have outlived Trettner. Some of you seem to have been able to find lists for several countries, maybe you could search for Poland? > ETA : found on another forum the mention of Chinese general Gao Kuiyuan, born in 1907 and still alive according to them in 2009. I found a biography also stating he was alive, but I don’t know when it has been written. He would be 108, which is theoritically possible. Sifting through this compilation: > **[Generals from Poland](https://generals.dk/nation/Poland.html)** > > Biographical encyclopedia of the generals of World War Two I couldn’t find a Polish general who lived until the 2000s, but maybe the list isn’t complete? ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/23 "2016-01-11T15:00:12Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > The same site mention Canadian general Norman Elliot Rodger as being brigadier general during WWII. He apparently died in 2010, aged 103. Yes indeed! [https://cmea-agmc.ca/mgen-norman-elliot-rodger-cbe-cd-retd](https://cmea-agmc.ca/mgen-norman-elliot-rodger-cbe-cd-retd) ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/24 "2016-01-11T15:12:15Z")
[Dietrich Peltz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Peltz) “only” lived until 2001, but he was the youngest German general in the 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/25 "2016-01-11T15:20:19Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Sure but by WW2 time already the practice if you were not the actual monarch or heir apparent was that you’d have a commission and post closer to your training and experience. In the West, yes, but what about elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/26 "2016-01-11T15:25:56Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > ETA : found on another forum the mention of Chinese general Gao Kuiyuan, born in 1907 and still alive according to them in 2009. I found a biography also stating he was alive, but I don’t know when it has been written. He would be 108, which is theoritically possible. And this might be the winner: > **[Biography of General 1st Rank Gao Kuiyuan - (高魁元) - (Kao Kuei-yuan) (1907 –...](https://generals.dk/general/Gao_Kuiyuan/_/China.html)** > > This is a brief biographical sketch of the military career of General 1st Rank Gao Kuiyuan. He was a general during World War Two. I’m under the impression that this website is kept up-to-date and this general is listed as “still alive”. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/27 "2016-01-11T15:45:06Z")
Looks like a winner to me! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/28 "2016-01-11T15:46:12Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/29 "2016-01-11T15:51:05Z")
Gruesome piece of trivia: I google-searched the website generals.dk for the word “alive” and only got two hits: The aforementioned general Gao Kuiyuan and a major-general named [Yu Yuan](http://www.generals.dk/general/Yu_Yuan/_/China.html). This gentleman, however, isn’t alive at all because in his biography, it says: > [@](#): > > 1947-06-01 – 1949-12-07 Condemned to death and executed ( **buried alive** ) (bolding mine) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/30 "2016-01-11T16:07:27Z")
> [@botsgotme](#): > > I think that once everyone who had personal experience with WWII is gone, we will see a big change in the historical view of the conflict. I don’t. Not because it will have passed from living memory as far as combatants go (there are still plenty of children/adolescents who were around then), but rather because WWII is the first war that was extensively documented with interviews and actual historical record-keeping. In other words, the sort of information that in years past was lost with the passing of the veterans has in large part, been preserved via films and video recording, as well as extensive interviewing, etc… For example, I have a video of my grandfather (8th AF bomber crewman, 1943), giving a talk of his wartime experiences with a class of high school kids sometime around the 50th anniversary of WWII, a few years prior to his death. This is entirely different in terms of accuracy than me trying to remember what he told me about his experiences when _I_ was a kid/teenager. While I remember a great deal of what he told me, it’s fundamentally different to see and hear it coming from his mouth. Plus, I think that prior to WWII, there wasn’t the systematic historical record-keeping with an eye toward historical scholarship that there was during and after WWII. There were literally historians embedded with fighting units, and people assigned to document various aspects of the war, as well as a great number of historians who spent their lives documenting the war between the 1940s and today. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/31 "2016-01-11T16:31:56Z")
We still haven’t seen a Japanese contender yet, which makes me think we might find someone alive later or possibly still alive. See post above. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/32 "2016-01-11T16:44:11Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > We still haven’t seen a Japanese contender yet, which makes me think we might find someone alive later or possibly still alive. See post above. That’s what I tried to find out by searching for “alive” and “living” on generals.dk. The site looks fairly comprehensive to me. Also, the Japanese tend to value experience and seniority, I’m assuming there weren’t that many military careers on the fast track. An officer who made it to the rank of general until 1945 would therefore probably not have been exceptionally young (unlike, for instance, some German or Allied generals). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/33 "2016-01-11T16:46:59Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > We still haven’t seen a Japanese contender yet, which makes me think we might find someone alive later or possibly still alive. Yeah - have all the caves on remote Pacific islands been searched for high-ranking Japanese holdouts? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/34 "2016-01-11T16:55:23Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > That’s what I tried to find out by searching for “alive” and “living” on generals.dk. The site looks fairly comprehensive to me. I would guess that if we can get a Japanese speaker to search in Japanese you might find additional info. There were almost certainly some very young generals among the nobility. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/35 "2016-01-11T18:44:58Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I had a former girlfriend who would angrily respond to the first part of a sentence while ignoring the second part. You reminded me why the ‘former’ is there. Brilliant observation/spelling out the miscommunication and miscommunication of acknowledgment of miscommunication. (Putting it mildly. As opposed to “No, wait, I was just saying, hold on to that for this time, because it’s different, and that’s irrelevant, why the f#\*#% do you not wait for the f%%^ing point you always no I don’t you always what’s that got to with it you sound like your fucking mother with that.” Former. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/36 "2016-01-11T19:27:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I don’t. Not because it will have passed from living memory as far as combatants go (there are still plenty of children/adolescents who were around then), but rather because WWII is the first war that was extensively documented with interviews and actual historical record-keeping. > > In other words, the sort of information that in years past was lost with the passing of the veterans has in large part, been preserved via films and video recording, as well as extensive interviewing, etc… > > For example, I have a video of my grandfather (8th AF bomber crewman, 1943), giving a talk of his wartime experiences with a class of high school kids sometime around the 50th anniversary of WWII, a few years prior to his death. This is entirely different in terms of accuracy than me trying to remember what he told me about his experiences when _I_ was a kid/teenager. While I remember a great deal of what he told me, it’s fundamentally different to see and hear it coming from his mouth. > > Plus, I think that prior to WWII, there wasn’t the systematic historical record-keeping with an eye toward historical scholarship that there was during and after WWII. There were literally historians embedded with fighting units, and people assigned to document various aspects of the war, as well as a great number of historians who spent their lives documenting the war between the 1940s and today. Agree. Maybe it’s this “Greatest Generation” stuff that will finally be put to bed, that the OP is thinking. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/37 "2016-01-12T00:12:59Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > I would guess that if we can get a Japanese speaker to search in Japanese you might find additional info. There were almost certainly some very young generals among the nobility. How can you possibly get to “almost certainly” about a conjecture? Short answer. Nope. Slightly longer answer. There were a number of members of the imperial family in the army, but none filled a fantasy of being a young general promoted because of his family connections. The Japanese army was a respected career for younger brothers in these families, and many of them joined and became leaders, but not as young generals. The IJA simply didn’t do this. [Prince Misaka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takahito,_Prince_Mikasa) (born 1915) was the younger brother of the Emperor and served as a officer, but was never going to be promoted to such a rank at that age. The Japanese military was quite strict about seniority in command. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/38 "2016-01-12T02:16:08Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > [Prince Misaka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takahito,_Prince_Mikasa) (born 1915) was the younger brother of the Emperor and served as a officer, but was never going to be promoted to such a rank at that age. On the other hand, his younger brother Yasuhito was promoted to major general in 1945 at the age of 43 despite having hardly been involved in the war at all due to illness. You can’t really say that members of the imperial family were following the regular military career track. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/39 "2016-01-12T04:45:31Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > On the other hand, his younger brother Yasuhito was promoted to major general in 1945 at the age of 43 despite having hardly been involved in the war at all due to illness. > > You can’t really say that members of the imperial family were following the regular military career track. Sure, promoted to major general at the end of the war after retiring from active service, and never acting in a command position at that rank. It should probably be noted that Emperor Taisho, father to Hirohito, was made a colonel and at age 24. Hirohito was made a colonel and a navy captain as well. The point is that there were no young, active generals from noble families. Two brothers of the emperor were not made into active duty generals during the war, although it may have been possible for Chichibu to have been promoted sooner had he not been sick. However, he was 45 when he was given that rank so it would not have really been so fantastically early in his career. It needs to be remembered that Japan was involved militarily in China for a decade before beginning the war with the US. [nitpick]Prince Chichibu as Yasuhito is known in Japan was Misaka’s older brother and not his younger one.[/nitpick] * * * And back to the subject in question, I found a Japanese source which said that in 2007 there was two majors, Prince Mikasa and one other, as well as a couple of lieutenants who were still surviving, but no other known commissioned officers. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718/40 "2016-01-12T05:25:59Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I don’t. Not because it will have passed from living memory as far as combatants go (there are still plenty of children/adolescents who were around then), but rather because WWII is the first war that was extensively documented with interviews and actual historical record-keeping. > > In other words, the sort of information that in years past was lost with the passing of the veterans has in large part, been preserved via films and video recording, as well as extensive interviewing, etc… > > For example, I have a video of my grandfather (8th AF bomber crewman, 1943), giving a talk of his wartime experiences with a class of high school kids sometime around the 50th anniversary of WWII, a few years prior to his death. This is entirely different in terms of accuracy than me trying to remember what he told me about his experiences when _I_ was a kid/teenager. While I remember a great deal of what he told me, it’s fundamentally different to see and hear it coming from his mouth. > > Plus, I think that prior to WWII, there wasn’t the systematic historical record-keeping with an eye toward historical scholarship that there was during and after WWII. There were literally historians embedded with fighting units, and people assigned to document various aspects of the war, as well as a great number of historians who spent their lives documenting the war between the 1940s and today. As an example of how much things changed between 1918 and 1939 - one trivia I read said there is no footage of actual WWI dogfights. (Anything that purports to be such is likely taken from cinematic recreations, possibly from “Wings”) Compare that to the miles of film of WWII aerial combat. (Hmmm… footage, film… those were the days…) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-wwii-generals-still-alive/742718.md?page=3)