I believe there’s only one Canadian WWI vet left now too. There was an article about him in the paper a week or two ago, but I didn’t read all of it. I think he’s 107, and lied about his age to be able to go.
There’s also just one Titanic survivor left-Milvena Dean. She was just a baby when her family set sail. A friend of mine met her-she’s supposed to be a pretty cool lady.
Well, some speculate that the Kaiser was a closet case, so…
Possibly. I sent to the National Archives for his papers recently only to receive a form letter stating that most of the files of WWI soldiers were destroyed in a fire in the 1950s. It makes me wonder how they were able to validate service for pensions and the like.
The only way would be for the vet to present his DD-214. Without that, he’s toast, if the records were destroyed.
Correction to my comment above: the destruction of most WW1 service records happened in 1973, not in the 1950s. The same fire also destroyed most army records from WW2 (though most Navy and Marine records were filed in different buildings not affected by the fire). I’m surprised this fire isn’t more famous; sounds like it rivals the burning of the 1890s Census in terms of irreplaceable information destroyed.
I do know from genealogical research that the WW1 draft registration cards of both of my grandfathers and several uncles survived and were photocopied, so perhaps this is what is used. Otherwise, if you know any really old con-men who want to cash in on about 40 years of back pension, lemme know and for 1/4 I’ll sign an affidavit that he was in my unit. 
Unfortunately only a handful left. It would be uncertain how may Turks or Russians (as an example are left) but it is doubtful if any.
I as well wish I could have asked my grandfathers about their experiences in WW1 (and in one case in the Boer War) but I was too young and stupid.
However, I do have the diary one of my deceased grand uncles left from Gallipoli. (He was later killed in France).
I could not have gone through what they did.
And Frank Buckles was 4 when the last American 1812 vet Hiram Cronk died.
For those interested in the WWI draft registration cards, Ancestry has bazillions of them - don’t pay for the service until you find out if your local library already does, though!
I know that my dad is the last ww2 vet in his American Legion post at the age of 85, everybody else is younger. Although I think mrAru is the youngest member at the present and he is 44. I seem to remember something he said about being the last man from his original boot camp unit alive.
Simple, the others died.
But seriously, I found a little info about WWI veterans and a lot aboutWWII veteran numbers as follows:
No.of wartime vets
as of July 1999:
per 2000 *World Almanac and Book of Facts *
5,940,000 vets of WWII alone
608,000 vets of Korea AND WWII
6,548,000 Total vets of WWII
3,000 WWI vets
Wartime vets as of Sept. 2005
per 2006 World Almanac:
3,163,000 vets of WWII alone
253,000 vets w/service in both Korea AND WWII
109,000 vets w/svc in Vietnam ERA, Korea, AND WWII
1,000 vets w/ svc in Gulf, Nam ERA, Korea, AND WWII
3,526,000 total vets of WWII
No number of WWI vets was listed.
so,
6,548,000
-3,526,000
3,022,000 WWII vets died in the 74 months from 7/31/00 thru 9/30/05
Using those dates, 3,022,000/74 = 40,838 WWII vets died per month. 40,838/31 days per avg. month = 1,317 died per day during that period. ,
As for the WWI vets, the* Almanac * stopped printing a number for them in or just before 2006, assumedly because the Dept. of Vet’s Affairs couldn’t supply accurate info (like, what’s new?). (I can’t lay my hands on my copies before that year. Maybe it’s googlable.) I remember it listed around 300 just before they stopped listing it but I remember it being about 300 in the last year of printing it, I think, in 2005, and of course, the “3,000” figure for 1999 sounds contrived or estimated.
Wartime vets as of Sept. 30, 2007
per 2008 World Almanac:
2,497,771 vets of WWII alone
206,570 vets w/service in both Korea AND WWII
89,781 vets w/svc in Vietnam ERA, Korea, AND WWII
754 vets w/ svc in Gulf, Nam ERA, Korea, AND WWII
2,794,876 total vets of WWII
No number of WWI vets was listed.
so,
3,526,000
-2,794,876
731,124 WWII vets died in the 24 months from 9/30/05 thru 9/30/07
731,124/24 = 30,464 WWII vets died per month which = 983 per day during that period which agrees with news reports I’ve been hearing over the last year or so.
It must be noted that the figures given for Vietnam ERA vets includes non-war-involved vets who served on active dury during the approximately 18- year period of our involvement. (I may be wrong on that era’s duration.) For example, I myself am included in that total and the closest I got to Nam was fighting the French while homeported next to Nice for two years on the Flag Allowance of Commander Sixth Fleet in the mid-'60s. The other figures are for war-involvement, according to the Almanac tables.
Hope this is of interest even though it’s a little off the OP.
I moved to Georgia in 2001 and there was an Atlanta JC article about the six known WW1 vets then living in metro-Atlanta. All were centenarians even then.
I can’t provide a cite, but on a cable documentary on supercentenarians (those 110 and over) it was remarked that centenarians, regardless of how old they are other than 100 or over, all have about a 50% death annual rate, meaning that from a group of 2000 people who live to celebrate their 100th birthday (and rounding to nearest higher whole number rather than halves)
1000 (50%) would live to become 101
500 (25%) would live to become 102
250 (12.5%) would live to become 103
126 (6.25%) would live to become 104
63 (3.125%) would live to become 105
16 (1.6%) would live to become 106
8 (0.8%) would live to become 107
4 (0.4%) would live to become 108
2 (0.2%) would live to become 109
1 (0.1%, or 1% of 1%) would live to become 110 (a supercentenarian)
Interesting stats on centenarians and supercentenarians:
As of March 2008 there are 81 supercentenarians in the world (though the word confirmed is very important. As
1-record keeping on births was not as common in 1898
2- it is not uncommon for records to be destroyed (and over the last century when photocopies were not as easily come by it happened more often to records that had no duplicate)
3- there are many countries whose records are not available for study
there are far more people alleged to be living supercentenarians (a disproportionate number of them, as with confirmed centenarians, in parts of Russia and Japan).
There were approximately 50,454 centenarians reported as alive in the 2000 Census of the United States. The percentage of centenarians alive at any given time is usually about 85% female to 15% female. Blacks and whites average roughly the same number of centenarians per 100,000 population, while Hispanics average a bit (not substantially) less and Asian-Americans a bit (not substantially) more. Roughly 15-20% of centenarians are still able to provide for their own needs (i.e. do not require full time care). It is projected that by 2050 there will be more than 850,000 Americans aged 100 or over (most of them still using Word 2003).1990 Census Report
Googled “surviving WWI veterans” and found lots more info including a listing of all 14 survivors by country. There is one more, in addition to Mr. Buckles, John Buckley, of Spokane, Washington, “credited” to the USA although he was born in Canada and served in the Canadian Army in WWI. He later moved to the USA and served in the US Army. He’s also 107.
Speaking of Frank Buckles, here is an update. The Senate honored him on Wednesday.
Salute!
Not sure what’s happened to the aformentioned John Buckley. The CNN story says Buckles is the last living American doughboy.
A hearty Boy Scout salute to Mr. Buckles and his 13 comrades-in-arms! 
(I’m not a vet, so I can’t give the regular salute.)
Sampiro, this is almost certainly nothing, but I’ll mention it. I live pretty close to ARPERCEN, which is supposed to have the most comprehensive U.S. Army records. If you think it would be helpful for someone to show up there in person, with the appropriate info to start, and ask if they have anything more on your grandfather, I wouldn’t mind running over there… Again, I suspect that’s an empty offer; I’m none too sure they’d give anything to a nonrelative. But ¿quién sabe? Your grandfather sounds like a pretty groovy guy.
And I can’t volunteer anyone without their consent, but there’s a Doper vet who lives not far away who might know more about how to do such things. If you think I’ve got something in me more useful than hot air (that’ll be the day), send an email to my Doper name. :dubious: