(Hear from the last living voices of WWII.). At 110, Lawrence Brooks is the oldest known U.S. veteran of World War II. Black soldiers fighting in the war could not escape the racism, discrimination, and hostility at home. Born Sept. 12, 1909, Brooks was drafted into the Army at age 31. This month marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe. According to The New York Times, COVID-19 has spread in more than 40 veterans’ homes in more than 20 states, leading to the deaths of at least 300 people.

“I had to keep it with me,” he says. I am a Statista data journalist, covering technological, societal and media topics through visual representation.

His daughter, Vanessa Brooks, who cares for him, says the first time she started hearing his stories was about five years ago when the World War II Museum began hosting annual birthday parties for him in New Orleans, where he now lives. This is a list of notable surviving veterans of World War II (1939–1945). Raised in Norwood, Louisiana, near Baton Rouge, Brooks came from a big family of 15 children. For Brooks, who served in the Army between 1940 and 1945, that order would come too late.

Some of the people on this list are still living, while others have already passed away. WWII service members’ numbers have dwindled from around 939,000 in 2015. The VA used a deterministic actuarial projection model to forecast the number of living veterans up to 2045 and the following infographic is based on its findings. He drew on another lesson from his mother—cooking—in his Army job, which had him assisting a few white officers, doing their cleaning and cooking. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- © 2020 Forbes Media LLC. (These are the foods to live by for a long life.). “We went to war with Hitler, the world’s most horrible racist, and we did so with a segregated army because, despite guarantees of equal treatment, this was still Jim Crow America,” Citino says.

Cleaning uniforms and shining shoes for three officers.

Of the 16 million U.S. veterans who served, about 300,000 are still alive today, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He’d occasionally drive the officers he served to nights out on the town when they could get away for an adventure or two. The military was not formally desegregated until President Harry Truman forced it with a 1948 executive order. He served with the predominantly African-American 91st Engineers Battalion in the Pacific Theater between 1941 and 1945. To put that into perspective, Citino says, consider that German prisoners of war could have been served at restaurants while en route to or from their quarters at Camp Hearne in Texas, but the African-American soldiers who transported them would have been denied service. 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. The jobs open to African-American troops depended on the branch of service and changed as the need for manpower increased throughout the long years of war.

A reluctant soldier, it didn’t sit right with him that he might be required to take another person’s life. But even that job didn’t keep him from carrying a rifle everywhere he went. That raises a sad and depressing question: when will America lose its last World War II veterans? But he still shies away from his family’s questions about his war years. Estimated number of living U.S. WWII veterans up to 2045. In fact, I love to write about all trending topics. “And I was glad I did. “You couldn’t put a gun in their hands,” he says of the then-prevalent attitude. I am a Statista data journalist, covering technological, societal and media topics through visual representation. “I wondered about that. “And you mean to tell me, I get up on these people and I got to go kill them?

Being a World War II veteran is a distinguished honor and everyone on this list was celebrated for their service. When Brooks was stationed with the U.S. Army in Australia, he was an African-American man in a time well before the Civil Rights Movement would at least codify something like equality in his home country. I think they were fighting for the promise of America rather than the reality of America.”.

Data journalist covering technological, societal and media topics, EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change. “I was treated so much better in Australia than I was by my own white people,” Brooks says. Oh, no, I don’t know how that’s going to work out.” (See maps of nine key moments from WWII.). Still, Brooks is upbeat. The memories are more than 75 years old now: Cooking red beans and rice halfway around the world from the place in Louisiana that first made the recipe. “African Americans were still subject to all kinds of limitations and discrimination based on the color of their skin. Back in 2015, 939,000 U.S. WWII veterans were still alive and the number of stories and memories being lost daily is accelerating. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience.

“I just tried to put all the good ones and the bad ones together and tried to forget about all of them.”, Brooks says his military years taught him to straighten up, so he did his best to eat right and stay healthy. “I don't like hurting my body,” he says. Rob Citino, Senior Historian at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, says the U.S. military then had “racist characterizations” of African-American soldiers during the war. Lawrence Brooks, photographed in his home, holds a portrait of his younger self. He enjoys spending warm days on his daughter’s front porch in Central City, a neighborhood at the heart of New Orleans. Of the 16 million Americans who donned a military uniform, 1.2 million were African Americans who were “often being treated as second-class citizens at home,” Citino says. In fact, I love to write about all trending topics, illustrating patterns and trends in a quick, clear and meaningful way.

About 370 World War II veterans die each day.

He never enjoyed the taste of alcohol and the way liquor burned his throat.

He credits a healthy lifestyle, deep faith and love of people for his longevity. It shows that their ranks will fall further to just under 60,000 in five years with the very last U.S. WWII veteran expected to pass away in 2043. “My mother and father always raised me to love people, and I don’t care what kind of people they are,” he says. As of April 2020 this list is as accurate as possible and will be updated as needed. “Hurricane Katrina took everything I owned, washed away everything,” he said last year. *Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista). Brooks uses his walker to head out of his bedroom—bedecked in the black and gold colors of the New Orleans Saints—to chat with the children at the daycare next door. It’s not uncommon to hear Mardi Gras Indians singing, or watch a brass band-led second-line parade go by on Sundays. In 2005, Brooks lost his wife, Leona, to Hurricane Katrina.

Brooks says he never discussed these inequalities with his fellow African-American service members. America lost its final veteran of the First World War just under a decade ago. The father of five children, 13 grandchildren, and 22 great grandchildren, Brooks worked for many years as a forklift operator before retiring in his seventies. Part of the 91st Engineers Battalion in the Pacific Theater, whose responsibility was to build military infrastructure, Brooks’ unit often didn’t stay anywhere long. Our work at Statista has been featured in publications including Mashable, the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider.

“I had some good times and I had some bad times,” Brooks says.

( Hear from the last living voices of WWII. At 110, he says, his key to a good life is straightforward: “Serve God, and be nice to people.”, America’s oldest living WWII veteran faced hostility abroad—and at home, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/05/americas-oldest-living-wwii-veteran-faced-hostility-abroad-home.html. The youngest veterans are in their early 90’s, while the oldest are over 100 years old. List. Unfortunately, the figures could well be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. After the war he worked as a forklift operator until he retired nearly 40 years ago. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

The national World War II Museum in New Orleans hosts a birthday party for him each year. Brooks says he was treated “better” by white Americans when he returned from the war, but it would take nearly two decades before the Civil Rights Act was signed into law. Their ranks are continuing to steadily decline, however, and the vast majority of those alive in 2020 are in their 90s while some are considerably older. That’s what worried me so much. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 389,292 of the roughly 16 million American World War II veterans are still alive as of 2020. For years he avoided discussing his experiences in the war, sharing little of his story with his children as they grew up. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) calculated that 245 WWII veterans were expected to be lost every day between September 30, 2019 and September 30, 2020. I didn’t want to be out there shooting at people because they’d be shooting at me, and they might have got lucky and hit.”. The man who keeps these memories is older still. Brooks is proud of his military service, even though his memories of it are complicated. This Memorial Day, approximately 325,000 U.S. WWII veterans are still alive but their ranks are steady declining. 75 years on from the end of the Second World War in Europe, approximately 325,000 of the 16 million Americans who served during the conflict are still alive on Memorial Day 2020. Of the 16 million U.S. veterans who fought in World War II, only 300,000 are still alive. These are the foods to live by for a long life. Hopping in foxholes when his trained ear could tell the approaching warplanes were not American but Japanese. Total of 729 … Lawrence Brooks (September 12, 1909 – Present) From 1941 to 1945 he served in the Pacific with the Army’s predominantly African American 91st Engineer Battalion, as a support worker to its officers. About 300,000 U.S. World War II veterans are alive in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which has published projections of the number of living veterans from 2015 to 2045. Born in 1901, Frank Buckles enlisted in the army in 1917 where he went on to drive ambulances and motorcycles during the conflict in Europe before passing away in February 2011 at the ripe old age of 110. Of the 16 million U.S. veterans who served, about 300,000 are still alive today, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She died shortly after the couple was evacuated by helicopter from their home. 11. That was the lot of the African-American soldier, sailor, airman, you name it.”. Despite the segregated army and hostile treatment he received during and after the war, Brooks is a proud veteran. Also aged 110, Louisiana native Lawrence Brooks is currently America's oldest known living World War II veteran. All rights reserved.

Hear from the last living voices of WWII.



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