RIP last female US WWI veteran

[Okla-homey]

salute!


Last Female World War One Vet Dies at 109

AP-BOONSBORO, Md. (March 29) - The last known surviving American female World War I veteran, a refined Civil War buff who met face-to-face with the Secretary of the Navy to fight for women in the military, has died. She was 109.

Charlotte Winters died Tuesday at a nursing home near Boonsboro in northwest Maryland, the U.S. Naval District in Washington said in a statement. Her death leaves just five known surviving American World War I veterans.

In 1916, Winters met with Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to persuade him to allow women in the service, said Kelly Auber, who grew up on South Mountain, where Winters and her husband, John Winters, settled.

When the Navy opened support roles to women, Winters and her sister, Sophie, joined immediately in 1917, Auber said. By December 1918, the Naval District said more than 11,000 women had enlisted and were serving in support positions.

Winters served as a secretary and retired in 1953 with the rank of yeoman in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Friends said she was proud of her role but didn't like to be fussed over as she grew older and there were fewer and fewer WWI veterans alive.

"Why are they doing this for me? I don't deserve all this," Doug Bast of Boonsboro recalled her saying.

Auber said Winters was "an absolutely refined lady" who with her husband was fond of traveling the country looking for burial spots of fallen Civil War generals.

[soonerjoker]

my Dad was in WWI. he's been dead a long time, tho.
he'd be 111 this year.

[SoonerStormchaser]

My great-grandfather was in WWI...fighting for the Italians...he'd have been 122 this year.

[soonerjoker]

my ggf would probably be about 170 this year. too old for WWI.

[SoonerStormchaser]

I'm a young-un...

[LoyalFan]

My great-grandfather was in WWI...fighting for the Italians...he'd have been 122 this year.

FYI, ya'll...

In WW ONE the Italians fought on "our" side. Their main opponent was Austria, staunch allies of the Germans (well, they basically ARE Germans) and for the most part, the Austrians kicked their rumps. Still, there were moments of glory for Guido and the boys, especially at the Piave river.
Sometimes folks think the Italians were on the other side 'cause they were so in WW2. T'ain't so.
Remember too that the Germans of WW1 were the Kaiser's guys, NOT Hitler's. No NAZIs in that one, 'cept for a corporal, born Alois Schicklgruber in Linz, Austria. Later changed the name to...you guessed it...Adolf Hitler.

Exam next Monday!

LF

[12]

My grandfather died at 96 while I was in college. He'd be 112 years old if not for the fact that NOBODY wants to live to be 112 years old.

Made it to 96, though. I do remember his stories of The Big War.

I also remember fried ham every morning and the funny smell in his garage.

[olevetonahill]

My grandfather died at 96 while I was in college. He'd be 112 years old if not for the fact that NOBODY wants to live to be 112 years old.

Made it to 96, though. I do remember his stories of The Big War.

I also remember fried ham every morning and the funny smell in his garage.
As long as theres Viagra I want to live forever .:D
Just sayin .
;)

[goingoneight]

http://bestsmileys.com/army/4.gif
May she rest in peace. :( Sad day in American history.

[fadada1]

my g-gf ran off to canada to fight earlier in WWI - much like brad pitt did in legends of the fall.

he was shot in the leg somewhere in france. pretty cool tidbit if any of you had relatives that did the same... the canadian army will send you a copy of their service record if you contact them. i have my g-gf's - pretty cool.

[Harry Beanbag]

I had a great great uncle (I think that's what he was anyway) killed on the last day of the war, November 11th 1918.

[Okla-homey]

My paternal granfather, who died in the late 1990s, joined the Army in 1916. Because his folks spoke German at home, he was assigned to PW guard duty during WWI. It may have saved his life.

He remained in the Army after WWI and made a career out it. During WWII, he didn't get off easy and went in with the initial assault wave on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) and remained in combat until Hitler blew his brains out the following spring.

[12]

Grandpa Homey had a story or two, I'll betcha.

[Okla-homey]

Grandpa Homey had a story or two, I'll betcha.

You know, like most vets who have seen war's horrors in person, he didn't speak of it much. Occasionally I would beg and plead and he would recount an experience or two.

One of the things he mentioned was how shocked and outraged he became when German civilians claimed they were'nt Nazis and disavowed the atrocities committed in the death camps near their communities.

He used to say that was precisely the reason his folks gave up everything and GTF out of Germany when they did in the 1890's b/c his family could see that Germany was on track to be a real bad place to be someday.

[fadada1]

my family came from germany about 300 years ago.

last name used to be spelled fuhr (with the little dots over the "U"). ad an "er" to the end of that and you get hitlers's title. thankfully they changed the spelling to foore about 200 years ago.

[soonerjoker]

some of my family came from germany, about 200 yrs ago. i never talked to any of them.

[royalfan5]

My Great Grandfather was in the Ballon Corps during World War I but wasn't sent overseas, probably due to the whole speaking German bit.

[SicEmBaylor]

I believe WWI was the one war that a member of my family wasn't involved directly in combat. He joined the Army and was sent to one of the islands off the New York coast to sit and look out for submarines. Not too glorious.

Other than that my family has directly fought in every war going back to the revolution.

[Harry Beanbag]

You know, like most vets who have seen war's horrors in person, he didn't speak of it much. Occasionally I would beg and plead and he would recount an experience or two.

One of the things he mentioned was how shocked and outraged he became when German civilians claimed they were'nt Nazis and disavowed the atrocities committed in the death camps near their communities.

He used to say that was precisely the reason his folks gave up everything and GTF out of Germany when they did in the 1890's b/c his family could see that Germany was on track to be a real bad place to be someday.


My grandpa was in combat in Europe from late Summer '44 until the end of the war then came home in '46 after some occupation duties. Luckily, Truman pushed the button, otherwise his unit was preparing to be shipped to the Pacific to take part in the slaughterfest that was to be called Operation Downfall.

Anyway, he died in 1993, revealing almost nothing to the family about what happened over there. Since then we've found a few documents, decorations, and mementos that he had hidden, but his time in the war is probably lost to history. About twenty years ago I was messing around in his garage and found some photographs that he had apparently stuck in a drawer years before. They showed giant mounds of frail bodies, obviously from a concentration camp, so apparently he was unlucky enough to come across one of those.

[sanantoniosooner]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070401/ap_on_re_us/obit_brown

Last WWI Navy vet dies in Md. at age 105

Sun Apr 1, 5:22 PM ET

CHARLOTTE HALL, Md. - Lloyd Brown, the last known surviving World War I Navy veteran, has died. He was 105.


Brown died Thursday at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in St. Mary's County, according to family and the U.S. Naval District in Washington.

His death comes days after the death of the last known surviving American female World War I veteran, Charlotte L. Winters, 109.

The deaths leave three known survivors who served in the Army, and a fourth who lives in Washington state but served in the Canadian army, according to the
Department of Veterans Affairs.

Brown was born Oct. 7, 1901, in Lutie, Mo., a small farming town in the Ozarks. His family later moved to Chadwick, Mo. In 1918, 16-year-old Brown lied about his age to join the Navy and was soon on the gun crew on the battleship USS New Hampshire.

"All the young men were going in the service. They were making the headlines, the boys that enlisted," Brown told The (Baltimore) Sun in a 2005 interview. "And all the girls liked someone in uniform."

Brown finished his tour of duty in 1919, took a break for a couple of years, then re-enlisted. He learned to play the cello at a musicians school in Norfolk, Va., and was assigned to an admiral's 10-piece chamber orchestra aboard the USS Seattle.

When Brown ended his military career in 1925, he joined the Washington Fire Department's Engine Company 16, which served the White House and embassies. He had married twice, and had a son and daughter from one marriage and two daughters from the other.

Even after reaching 100, Brown remained independent, living alone in his Charlotte Hall bungalow and driving a golf cart around his neighborhood.