{"id":7861,"date":"2025-06-14T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7861"},"modified":"2025-06-14T20:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T20:30:00","slug":"va-recognizes-four-world-war-ii-era-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7861","title":{"rendered":"VA recognizes four World War II-era Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-06-14T20:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p>Family members and Veteran caregivers gathered at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Home in Bossier City, Louisiana, to pay tribute to four <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/?s=World+War+II-era+Veteran\">World War II-era<\/a> residents.<\/p>\n<p>All eyes were on Veterans Alfred Procell, 101; Albert Smith, 101; Billie Taylor, 100; and Robert \u201cBob\u201d Robertson, 100. Between them, the Veterans have 402 years of combined life experience to celebrate. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese Veterans are truly a living encyclopedia of history, wisdom and experience,\u201d said Kim Lane, associate director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/shreveport-health-care\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Overton Brooks VA Medical Center<\/a> in neighboring Shreveport, where many of the facility\u2019s residence receive their care.<\/p>\n<p>Each Veteran received a framed proclamation and coin signed by VA Secretary Doug Collins to celebrate their life achievements.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The honorees<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/Lane_r2-scaled.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kim Lane, associate director at the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, shakes hands with World War II Veteran Albert Smith and presents a framed proclamation signed by VA Secretary Doug Collins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Robertson, a Navy Veteran, spent time as an engineer aboard the vessel \u201cLanding Ship Medium 310\u201d in the Pacific during his service.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the war hadn\u2019t ended when it did, I probably wouldn\u2019t be sitting here, had they not dropped the bomb on Japan,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n<p>He credits his longevity to never drinking or smoking and some fortunate genetics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy dad lived to 103,\u201d Robertson added. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Robertson, Smith and Procell each served in the Navy, while Taylor had a career in the Air Force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re grateful for the time they have spent with us here at the Veterans Home,\u201d said Wesley Pepitone, administrator of the state-run Veterans home.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/140630\/va-recognizes-four-world-war-ii-era-veterans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A tribute to four World War II-era residents at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VA recognizes four World War II-era Veterans - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A tribute to four World War II-era residents at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Home.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7861\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA recognizes four World War II-era Veterans - 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