Snowflakes in Hell

From Leaning Towards the Dark Side, we learn that the last World War I combat veteran died on February 22nd, 2007.

The last American combat veteran of World War I recently passed away, on February 22nd. Howard V. Ramsey was 109 years old and lived in Oregon. He was corporal, and arrived in France two months before the war ended in 1918. Ramsey drove trucks and cars, which brought him under enemy artillery fire as he delivered supplies to the front lines, or drove an ambulance up to retrieve wounded troops. After the war ended on November 11, 1918, Ramsey spent seven months recovering the bodies of dead American soldiers. Ramsey was born in Colorado, and volunteered for service, as he was too young for the draft. There are still seven American World War I veterans, but none of them went overseas.

A sad milestone, for sure. But there are currently hundreds of thousands of folks out there following in Mr. Ramsey’s footsteps, of whom we should be justly proud.