# Veteran's alive and kickin'

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-alive-and-kickin/229195>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 14, 2004, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-alive-and-kickin/229195 "2004-02-14T08:55:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-alive-and-kickin/229195/1 "2004-02-14T08:55:38Z")

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Ok, WWI was 1914… how many Americans are still alive that fought in that war. Personally I assume, that you must be at least 16 to join the war (given the younger ones that lied about their age), so the youngest survivors would be at least 102 years old. How many WWI veterans are left in the US? As long as you’re feeling brilliant, care to take a tally on the left over WWII veterans as well?

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-alive-and-kickin/229195/2 "2004-02-14T11:36:46Z")

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From [this page](http://www.dustbury.com/archives/002104.html): 300 veterans from WWI still alive in America.

According to [this page,](https://www.fra.org/navalaffairs/2004-2/na2004-02b.html) fewer than 4 million WWII vets will be alive come May 29 this year.

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**Author:** ![burntsand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@burntsand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burntsand)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-alive-and-kickin/229195/3 "2004-02-14T20:51:36Z")

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> [@bigbabysweets2000](#):
>
> Ok, WWI was 1914… how many Americans are still alive that fought in that war.

If you’re wondering about veterans of the American Expeditionary Force, you should start counting from 1917. Although, like in WW2, some Americans may have joined the British or Canadian armies and gotten into the fight earlier.

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**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-alive-and-kickin/229195/4 "2004-02-14T21:49:57Z")

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Sadly, a World War One Veteran died recently.  
Here is an article about this interesting gentleman:  
[http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/capezxslast12.htm](http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/capezxslast12.htm)  
He was 106 !!!