According to a statistic published in a newspaper article, there were, as of September 2011, 29 individuals who received benefits as parents(!) of soldiers who served in WW II. How is that possible? Obviously, it is conceivable that parents depend upon their soldier child for financial support, but first off, one would expect that these cases aren’t all that common anyway and secondly, parents of WW II veterans must be really old today. How does this work?
Er… they are the parents of soldiers who received benefits due to that status, and have lived a really long time?
Maybe younger wives (stepmothers) of men who had sons who were injured or died in action? Kind of like how “the last Confederate widow” died only in the past decade.
A relatively precocious couple, age 16 at marriage, could have had a son who enlisted in 1945 at the age of 18. The parents would be, therefore, born around 1911 and be over 100 years old. Not impossible, and we’re only talking about 29 people.
See (law) “creating a perpetuity”.
Any will which does so is invalid - the kind of thing which get a lawyer’s juices flowing.
“The fertile octogenarian”, the “Unborn widow” and other theoretical persons can occur in real life.
Dad remarries in 1960 to a 16 year old. Dad was getting benefits. She inherits for the rest of her life. She remarries…
There really should be a time limit on these things - esp since every lawmaker is a lawyer (yes, I know - there’s an exception. stuff it.) and every lawyer knows of these (usually fictitious) people. See: “Rule against perpetuities” for a fascinating look into the twisted minds of the legal profession.
My grandmother, who was born in 1910 and died in 2000, had sons who were WWII veterans. Her sister, who was born in 1913, died just this week. So there are still people of that generation around.
Yes - here she is: American Civil War widows who survived into the 21st century - Wikipedia
And as for looooong-paid pensions, see: American Civil War widows who survived into the 21st century - Wikipedia
I’m actually surprised it’s that low. WW2 ended in 1945 - an 18 year old in 1945 might well have had parents as young as 35. That would make the parents 103 or so – very old, but not exceptionally so, even without considering things like remarriages or kids who “aged” their birth certificates to sign up for the war.