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Harry Landis, Vet of WW I dead at 108

Discussion in '2008 Archive' started by windcatcher, Feb 11, 2008.

  1. windcatcher

    windcatcher New Member

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    Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
    World War I Veteran Harry Landis


    Harry Landis
    At the time of his death on February 4, 2008, in Sun City Center, Fla., at the age of 108, Harry Landis was one of only two remaining American World War I veterans.

    Landis was born Dec. 12, 1899, on a family farm just outside of Hannibal, Mo. At eight years of age he went to work rounding up cows to milk. The seventh of eight children, he rode a horse into town to help conduct family business for the farm that is still owned by family members. Going to school was a break.

    In 1917 he graduated from high school and attended Central College, now Central Methodist University, in Fayette, Mo., where he began work on a degree.

    Harry Landis

    In 1918, a year after America entered the war, Landis figured he was going to be drafted so he enlisted and stayed on campus as an Army private in the Student Army Training Corps. He said the only action he saw was his sergeant ordering him to mop up after sick recruits in the make-shift sick bay on the fourth-floor dormitory where he was supposed to be learning drilling and military instruction.

    Indeed, the entire region was suffering from the Spanish influenza and because of his healthy constitution, Landis stayed on as nearly all of the nurses quit. He said every morning he would wake up and go back and get the mop and bucket.

    About the time Landis turned 19, the war ended and he was honorably discharged. In 1941, he signed up to fight in World War II, but was rejected for being "too old."

    Returning to school at CMU, he finished his degree in physics and math and taught high school and coached football for three years before eventually becoming a manager at S.S. Kresge Co. (which later became K-Mart) in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Dayton, Ohio.

    On his 107th birthday in 2006, a reporter asked Harry “how does it feel to be 107?” He chuckled. “The same as it feels to be 105.”


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    America's last surviving World War I veteran: Frank Buckles


    http://www1.va.gov/opa/vafeature/Landis.asp
     
  2. donnA

    donnA Active Member

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    wow, thats incrediable, thanks for posting.
     
  3. Mike McK

    Mike McK New Member

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    He lived to see three centuries of history. That's pretty amazing. I hope somebody got his memories down before he died.
     
  4. Rippon

    Rippon Well-Known Member
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    It's a shame that many folks of today have never come in contact with anyone from the 19th century ( no time travel jokes ) .
     
  5. rbell

    rbell Active Member

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    When I was a nursing home chaplain in Jeffersonville, Indiana in the early 1990's, we did a Veteran's day recognition of all of our vets...but we paid special attention to our WWI vets. At the time, we had 4, all in their 90's. Then-governor Evan Bayh came and did a brief photo-op, handed out certificates, etc. I always appreciated him for doing that (even if he is a democrat :) --just kidding; it was a great gesture on his part). I got to talk with 3 of the 4 (who had their wits about them)...and heard about the horrors of war in a toatlly different era.

    Seems like just yesterday we did that...now, they're all gone (all but one). It made me go to some of my older family members and ask them to reminisce.
     
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