A Dozen World War II Veterans, None Younger Than 100, Gathered in Austin to Tell Their Stories

AUSTIN — On a Veterans Day when Austin's city offices were closed and its flags were out, the oldest living witnesses to the Second World War sat down in this city to talk. A dozen World War II veterans — none younger than 100 years old — gathered in Austin to share personal reflections on their wartime service, KUT reported, offering rare firsthand accounts of the unwritten realities of combat and of coming home to civilian life.

The gathering was organized as part of an effort to capture aging veterans' memories while they can still be told firsthand, KUT reported. It brought together decorated survivors of major theaters of the war — including Guadalcanal, Normandy and the Pacific raid operations — who opened up about the emotional weight, the personal bonds and the untold moments that history books often leave behind. Every year, the number of Texans who can give that account in the first person gets smaller; on Wednesday, twelve of them gave it together.

The day carried Austin's quieter numbers, too: 34 veteran-owned businesses employ 1,673 workers throughout the Austin area, the Austin Business Journal reported. And Mayor Kirk Watson marked the day by posting about volunteering as an Honor Flight guardian — the flights that take veterans to the memorials built in their honor in Washington. One of his favorite memories, he wrote, was serving as a guardian on one of those flights, which he called pretty special for the gratitude they let people express.

City administrative offices, courts, libraries, museums and recreation and senior centers were closed Wednesday for the holiday, the City of Austin said, with normal hours resuming Thursday. The twelve veterans' stories, recorded on the day Austin sets aside to hear them, are the part of Veterans Day that does not reopen on a schedule.