Doesn’t necessarily have to be a soldier, and doesn’t have to be someone who was famous at the time (or now). Just someone who played some significant or well-recognized role in regards to that conflict. For example, Miep Gies, one of the people who helped hide Anne Frank and her family, would have counted if she hadn’t died a few years ago; ditto Rochus Misch, Hitler’s bodyguard and the last survivor of the Berlin bunkers who died just this month.
What other people along those lines are left?
Elie Wiesel, for a start.
In terms of heads of state, King Michael of Romania and Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria are the last two standing.
I’d be surprised if any other Chief Prosecutors from the Nuremberg trials are still around.
Navigator and last surviving crew member of the Enola Gay.
I believe Warren Nyer is still alive. He worked on the Manhattan Project at both Oak Ridge and Los Alamos (and before that at the University of Chicago where much of the precursor work was done).
There are ten still living WWII recipients of the Medal of Honor: Charles Coolidge, Francis Currey, Walter Ehlers, John Hawk, Arthur Jackson, Robert Maxwell, Nicholas Oresko, Wilburn Ross, George Sakato, and Hershel Williams.
My grandpa , Stanley Harris. IMHO. He was in some of the first wave of troops to go in and helped liberate concentration camps in World War II. He however does not talk about World War II very much.
He also served in the Korean war where he stepped near a landmine and had shrapnel embedded in his back which some of it is still there . My grandpa is pretty badass
For the non-military, there’s Dame Vera Lynn.
Geo. H. W. Bush was a WW2 naval aviator. Rumors to the contrary notwithstanding, he appears to still be among the living.
There is one WWII recipient of the Victoria Cross still alive: John Cruickshank.
And three George Cross recipients: Stuart Archer, John Gregson, Ernest Wooding
Chester Nez, the last original Navajo code talker, is apparently still alive:
Not terribly significant to the war, but on the same level (or higher) as George Bush:
Elizabeth II
Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover - two people who will probably, against all odds, die of old age.
The tank ace Otto Carius: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Carius and Erich Rudorffer, the highest scoring ace pilot still alive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Rudorffer
Eric Brown the test pilot is still with us.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=16670623
He holds the record for the most different types of aircraft flown by one person which is 487. It’s unlikely that record will ever be matched as it’s not likely someone would ever have access to the huge variety of aircraft used during WW2 like Brown did.
Eric Brown the test pilot is still with us.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=16670623
He holds the record for the most different types of aircraft flown by one person which is 487. It’s unlikely that record will ever be matched as it’s not likely someone would ever have access to the huge variety of aircraft used during WW2 like Brown did.
He is one of those guys where when you read through a list of everything he has done it’s difficult to believe a single person could do all that.
Bonus to this, years later when she was Queen, her car broke down and she directed the driver in the repairs apparently.
Is the criterion people who were significant then, or who are significant now?