End of an era.

An era is ending right here before our eyes. The last remnants of the WWI generation are succumbing to old age. Being a fan of WWI history this is of great sadness to me. I’ve never met a WWI vet, and my time is running out. I’ll never meet a German WWI vet, the last one died last month. I’ll probably never meet a French vet, they lost one of two last month, and although it wasn’t during WWI, the last soldier from the flag raising at Iwo Jima has also died recently. Of course it is inevitable that they will all be lost sooner rather than later, it is still sad to see the end of a generation. My grandmother told me about the day she read the last veteran of the Spanish American war died, I imagine I will recall the news of the death of the last American WWI vet to my grandchildren someday. If you know a veteran, or in fact anyone who has lived through a major historical incident, ask them to tell you about their experience. It doesn’t matter if they served in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, or anywhere else. Once they are gone, so are the stories they can share. The best history lessons I’ve ever had have come straight from my Korean War Veteran grandfather.