WWI vet to be feted in parade

CHARLOTTE HALL, Md. – Memorial Day parade organizers considered actors to represent veterans of World War I when they learned about 103-year-old Lloyd Brown – one of the last living veterans of the war.

Brown plans to ride in the parade today in Washington, D.C., to represent the 4.7 million U.S. servicemen who took part in the Great War. He is one of 30 who are still alive, according to an unofficial estimate by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“World War I people are getting scarce,” Brown said. “Nothing can be done about that.”

Brown was 16 when he lied about his age so he could join the Allied cause in 1918.

“Everybody was patriotic – everybody wanted to join,” Brown said. “Those who joined were local heroes, well received on the public streets.”

Brown still remembers patrolling the North Atlantic for submarines aboard the USS New Hampshire. He re-enlisted after the war and played cello in Australia as a member of an admiral’s orchestra. He later served as a firefighter and sold antiques.

“I don’t consider it a long life,” Brown said. “I feel as though there are a lot of people around my age.”