Surviving WWI pilots?
mark (lothar@ncw.net)
Fri, 29 Sep 1995 19:03:36 -0700
Greetings to all - Saw something in this evenings newspaper that piqued my
curiousity, so just thought I'd toss it out for discussion. Evidently, the
oldest living US WWI vet died yesterday, at the age of 107. At the end of
the article, a statistic from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs was quoted,
stating that approximately 19,000 US veterans were still alive "with an
average age of 90" ( I can buy the 19,000 figure, but if the average age of
surviving vets is 90, and the war ended 77 years ago this November, this
means that the average vet was 13 years old at wars end!!! Did I mention
that this was a government statistic? 8^o ) Anyway, this raises the question
- are there still any aviators from "the" war who haven't yet flown off to
the Great Aerodrome In the Sky? Since the air services of the combatant
nations were relatively small in comparison to the ground and naval forces,
I doubt there could be more than a handful, if even that. It would be
interesting to know if there's been any recent books, documentaries,
articles, interviews, etc. on the old survivors. Anyway, I'll let you guys
take it from here... Thanks 8^)
Mark Rook
lothar@ncw.net