How Many WW2 Veterans Still Alive 2024?

Next month I will celebrate my 50th birthday. The Britain in which I was born and raised was

still

largely inhabited by the generation that fought in the Second World War. I was fortunate to know both of my grandparents very well as a child and as a young man. and my interest in military history was greatly influenced by the wonderful stories told to me by these two wonderful men. My maternal grandfather had been born two weeks after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and was a professional soldier for more than 30 years. He served in Montgomery's eighth grade.

Army My paternal grandfather, born in 1925, volunteered as a minor in 1942 for the army and came of age in Les de Burma fighting the Japanese. They both had a lot in common, you could tell they had been soldiers, even when they were old, they always stood tall. well presented and possessed that friendly, easy-going humor that all World War II

veterans

seemed to possess, born perhaps of the camaraderie of shared war experiences; both had seen intense infantry combat and of course had killed men in battle but both were the gentlest of knights and then that special generation began to progressively fade away replaced by a very different generation and I think society has changed along with it. with her, so it made me wonder exactly how

many

of the tens of millions of men and women who fought in the world.

The Second War is

still

alive

today in

2024

, a special year, the 80th anniversary of

many

battles and operations, including the D-Day commemorations in June. The figures I give have been compiled from many sources, but are by no means exact. It is estimated that hundreds of World War II

veterans

die every day around the world. If you were an 18-year-old soldier in 1945, you would be at least 97 years old, which is a sobering reminder that time takes no prisoners like My two grandfathers, most World War II veterans, have long since gone to war. big parade ground in the sky, but there are still enough left to keep World War II in living memory.

I have selected 10 allied and axis nations and ordered them from largest to smallest. Living World Veterans of the Second War today again, all the figures I quote are derived from official and semi-official sources and of course they are facts that decrease daily, such as the level of medical care in certain nations or poverty levels, are factors important in determining longevity, not to mention diet environmental factors heredity and so on unfortunately I can't find updated figures for France or Italy and have excluded them from my list, but I would be very interested if someone knows the figures at number 10 are the United States 16.1 Million Americans served in World War II in one capacity or another and at the latest estimate in 2023, 11 19.5 were still

alive

, although around 30 were noted to be dying each day, so this figure, for Of course, it has decreased substantially, a sobering study concluded. that by 2035 there will be fewer than 1,000 American World War II veterans still alive in the number nine position.

Japan during World War II more than 6 million served in the military forces and, coupled with Japan's well-known longevity and also its excellent healthcare system, it is estimated that around 100,000 Imperial Japanese veterans are still alive as of 20124 in In position number eight we have India. The British Indian Army's contribution to victory over the Axis powers is often ignored today, but at least 2 and a half million Indians fought in World War II. It is estimated that around 100,000 are still alive today in the number seven position we have Russia, the Soviet contribution to the Second World War was absolutely enormous, with some 34 million men and women, many of them coming from nations that no longer They are under the control of Moscow, but it is estimated that some 75,000 Russian citizens are veterans of World War II, compared to more than 91,000 in 2023.

In position number six we have Germany. It is estimated that of the 13.6 million who served in World War II, around 70,000 are still alive today, this is largely due. Part of the recruitment of 16 and 17 year olds and younger boys and girls recruited in the last year of the war as Flack's aides, grenadiers, etc., at number five is Great Britain, between 3 and 2 million who served in the Second World War. probably just under 70,000 will still be alive in

2024

. Currently, the oldest man in the world and also the oldest male veteran of the Second World War is the British John Tinniswood, born in 1912 and currently aged 111, he served in the Second World War with the paymaster of the Royal Army and in the number four position. en Canada, more than 1.1 million Canadians served in World War II and today around 8,000 are believed to be still alive at number three.

It is another nation of the British Commonwealth. Australia. Almost a million Australians served in the Second World War and today between two, half and 3,000 veterans are still alive at number three. The second is China, not modern communist China, but the army of the previous regime, the Changai sh National Revolutionary Army within mainland China. Sources suggest that fewer than 3,000 Nationalist army veterans will still be alive in 2024 and how many in Taiwan is anyone's guess, with the number one position being another Brit. Commonwealth nation New Zealand served more than 105,000 kiwis overseas during World War II, but in 2024 only about 1,300 are still alive and d