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SALT LAKE CITY — One by one, 22 men and women made their way to the front of the room.
Some walked, some used wheelchairs. They wore suits, baseball caps, and, in some cases, 80-year-old uniforms. They ranged from 99 to 102 years old.
Nearly half of Utah’s 50 centenarian veterans — the oldest of whom is 104 — made it to a ceremony at the state Capitol Tuesday honoring those who have served and are in their 100th year or beyond.
When state officials began planning the event, they’d assumed there would be “a dozen or so” veterans born in 1920 or earlier living in Utah, said Gary Harter, executive director of the state Department of Veterans and Military Affairs.
In fact, they learned, there are 50: one-third of all the centenarians in the state. Most served in World War II.
“Today, 75 years after the Allied invasion on D-Day, your stories are more important than ever before,” Gov. Gary Herbert told the veterans gathered and their families. Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, fewer than 500,000 are still alive, Herbert said.
At least two veterans who took part in the D-Day invasion in Normandy on June 6, 1944, were present at the Capitol Tuesday afternoon, 75 years later.
One was 100-year-old Albert Vise of Salt Lake City, who landed on Omaha Beach. Vise, a veteran of both the Army and the National Guard, held his World War II uniform in his lap.
The other was Dan Eastman, a bomber pilot and first lieutenant who wore his original Army uniform for the occasion — a “very important uniform” to him, he said. The Tooele native will turn 100 on Christmas.
When was the last time he wore his uniform?
“This afternoon,” he joked.
Joseph Allen, who was drafted to the Army in 1942 and rose to the rank of first lieutenant over his four years of service, had three words for the event: “Wonderful. Exciting. Beautiful.” Allen, 100, grew up in the Cache Valley and lives in North Ogden.
Tuesday’s honorees included two women: 101-year-old Lillie Fitzsimons, a first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, and 101-year-old Donna Mecham, who served as an Army combat nurse stationed in North Africa. Mecham, who grew up in Michigan, met her Utah native husband while serving in World War II; the pair moved to Utah after the war, she said.
As the familiar strains of four songs — “Anchors Aweigh,” “The Army Goes Rolling Along,” “The U.S. Air Force Song” and “The Marines’ Hymn” — arose from a Utah National Guard brass quintet, the veterans who were able stood in turn, some rising from their wheelchairs.
Recently, Utah State Senate President Stuart Adams told the centenarians and their families, he’d visited Normandy and sat on the beach, reflecting on the legacy of his father and other members of the “greatest generation.”
“We love our families, we love America, we love this great state of Utah,” Adams said. “But none of this would have been possible without your service.”
