# Veterans Day question: How many Great War veterans are still alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668 "2003-11-11T20:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/1 "2003-11-11T20:39:36Z")
I’m thinking of U.S. veterans specifically, but if anybody knows the numbers for other countries that would be great as well. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/2 "2003-11-11T21:51:37Z")
I know that in Canada, there are 10 left. At least that’s what the Ottawa service’s announcers said. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/3 "2003-11-11T23:31:02Z")
> [@](#): > > And on Veterans Day 2003, it is still possible to thank, in person, almost 200 Americans who were in uniform when the guns of World War I went silent 85 years from today. All the men who served when Woodrow Wilson was the Commander-in-Chief are now more than 100 years old, and they can know that America is still proud of them. [President Honors America’s Veterans](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031111-8.html) Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Virginia ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/4 "2003-11-12T00:37:27Z")
I think I heard on an NPR broadcast this AM, that only 4 French Vets survive. I could have misheard. More staggering was the numbers killed in the war. What a waste. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/5 "2003-11-12T01:41:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*I think I heard on an NPR broadcast this AM, that only 4 French Vets survive. I could have misheard. > . \*\* I read in the newspaper this morning that there were 40 french WWI veterans still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Titan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Titan2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Titan2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/6 "2003-11-12T02:01:45Z")
In today’s RJ a feature was done on Nevada’s \*\* only \*\* WW1 surviving vet.The article also mentioned a number under 200 in the country. And this one just moved to Nevada in’93 from Minnesota,so glitter gulch doesn’t seem to hold a fascination for those vets. I’d imagine nursing homes hold a good percentage of them. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/7 "2003-11-12T03:52:22Z")
On CNN today they mentioned there are only 200 WW1 vets surviving in the United States, further confirming what other posters have said. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/8 "2003-11-12T04:48:26Z")
Well, the war ended on November 11, 1918. Assuming a few 16 or 17 year olds enlisted in the waning weeks of the war… the youngest possible WWI vets would be 101 years old. So, a figure of 200 in the U.S. sounds about right. And probably a few dozen in each of the other major nations involved in the war. ---
**Author:** ![zoltar7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b38774/32.png) [@zoltar7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoltar7)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/9 "2003-11-12T05:48:09Z")
[This thread](http://pub158.ezboard.com/ftheworldatwar70879frm2.showMessage?topicID=1320.topic) on the World War 1 Forum claims there are 44 living US veterans, citing what must be this [Scripps Howard report](http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=WASHCALL-11-07-03). ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/10 "2003-11-12T12:04:58Z")
Australia has 6 surviving Great War veterans. Eric Campbell , the last of the original ANZACs (who landed at Gallipoli, Turkey in April 1915) died in May 2002. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/11 "2003-11-12T15:07:36Z")
I’ve heard figures ranging from 6 to 10 for Canada; nobody seems to be able to nail the number down for sure, which I find curious. This is out of a contingent of about 650,000 men who served, at least 400,000 of whom went overseas during the war. (this out of a population of just eight million.) Of those, at least 60,000 died, so I would say we ended the war with either about 350,000 vets or 600,000 vets, depending on what you define a “Veteran” of the war as. This may explain the disparity. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/12 "2003-11-12T15:22:00Z")
I’m always suspicous of round numbers in news stories like this. 200 sounds like something I would have guessed. If it looks like a guess, IMO the fact the number was printed somewhere doesn’t add any authority to the figure. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/13 "2003-11-12T15:41:49Z")
The 200 number is probably old, and may reflect everyone who was enlisted at the time of the armistice. The 44 veterans are, if I understand correctly, actual overseas veterans. I’ve read that WWI veterans were not a separate category in the last census, so it’s hard to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/14 "2003-11-12T17:30:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clairobscur \* > \*\*I read in the newspaper this morning that there were 40 french WWI veterans still alive. \*\* Actually, that’s the number of French soldiers that survived the war. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/15 "2003-11-12T20:51:30Z")
There appear to be [just 27 surviving UK WWI veterans](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1081447,00.html). That’s including some who were still in training come the end of the war. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/16 "2003-11-13T21:37:28Z")
Apparently, the oldest W.W. I U.S. veteran died a day before Veterans Day. [http://newsobserver.com/news/story/3018079p-2761021c.html](http://newsobserver.com/news/story/3018079p-2761021c.html) Thanks for everyone’s answers to this question. ---
**Author:** ![mudcrutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@mudcrutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mudcrutch)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/17 "2003-11-14T02:26:09Z")
[Figures from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs](http://www.va.gov/pressrel/amwars01.htm). The estimated number of WWI vets on 9/30/03 was 952 (see data near the bottom of the page). ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/18 "2003-11-14T03:28:56Z")
The 952 figure is awfully high, especially since there are only 144 WWI vets on their rolls. That figure is just an estimate based on the 1990 Census data. I’d put my money on the “almost 200” figure. What surprised me is that there was still a _parent of a WWI vet_ on the rolls in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/19 "2003-11-14T03:58:30Z")
Yod Sangrungruang, who had been Thailand’s last surviving World War I veteran, died last month [at the age of 104](http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/du/Qthailand-france-people.Rh3K_DOA.html). ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668/20 "2003-11-14T04:57:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*More staggering was the numbers killed in the war. What a waste. \*\* Amen. ☹ I realized a few years ago that I would, barring freak accident or disease, outlive all WWI vets, and that was a sobering thought for some reason. WWI feels so far away, and yet it is so modern too. Despite all the horrors of WWII in Germany and Japan and everywhere else, I still find WWI to be more depressing to talk about and think about. I know, off topic, sorry. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veterans-day-question-how-many-great-war-veterans-are-still-alive/212668.md?page=2)