{"id":10002,"date":"2020-05-08T11:00:14","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T16:00:14","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-06-05T14:21:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T18:21:00","slug":"on-75th-anniversary-of-v-e-day-about-300000-american-wwii-veterans-are-alive","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2020\/05\/08\/on-75th-anniversary-of-v-e-day-about-300000-american-wwii-veterans-are-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"On 75th anniversary of V-E Day, about 300,000 American WWII veterans are alive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-640-wide\"><img data-dominant-color=\"827166\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #827166;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_feature-jpg.webp?resize=480,270 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_feature-jpg.webp?resize=782,440 782w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_feature-jpg.webp?resize=960,540 960w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_feature-jpg.webp?resize=1200,675 1200w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_feature-jpg.webp?resize=1280,720 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"360\" width=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_feature-jpg.webp?w=640\" alt=\"A World War II veteran participates in the 2019 Veterans Day Parade in New York City. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-18552 not-transparent\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A World War II veteran participates in a Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11, 2019, in New York City. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2020\/05\/08\/on-75th-anniversary-of-v-e-day-about-300000-american-wwii-veterans-are-alive\/ft_20-05-04_wwiivets_new\/\"><img data-dominant-color=\"f5f3ef\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"892\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_new.png?resize=480,691 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_new.png?resize=620,892 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/FT_20.05.04_WWIIVets_new.png\" alt=\"The number of living WWII veterans in the U.S. has plummeted since 2015\" class=\"wp-image-18547 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f5f3ef; width:310px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">May 8 marks the 75th anniversary of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2019\/05\/08\/v-e-day-1945-the-celebration-heard-round-the-world\/\">V-E Day<\/a>, when World War II came to an end in Europe. In the United States, V-E Day commemorations will honor the 16 million Americans who served during the war, even as only a small share of those veterans are alive today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 300,000 U.S. World War II veterans are alive in 2020, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/VETDATA\/index.asp\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)<\/a>, which has published projections of the number of living veterans from 2015 to 2045. WWII service members\u2019 numbers have dwindled from around 939,000 in 2015. Most living veterans from the war are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalww2museum.org\/war\/wwii-veteran-statistics\">in their 90s<\/a>, though <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2019\/09\/12\/us\/oldest-world-war-ii-veteran-birthday-trnd\/index.html\">some are considerably older<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of\u00a0<a data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/world-war-ii\/american-women-in-world-war-ii-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the 350,000 women<\/a> who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the war, about 14,500 are alive today. <\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"border-width:1px;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);--block-gap: inherit\" class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible has-background has-ui-beige-very-light-background-color has-border-color has-ui-beige-dark-border-color\" id=\"how-we-did-this\" data-wp-interactive=\"{&quot;namespace&quot;:&quot;prc-block\\\/collapsible&quot;}\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;collapsibleId&quot;:&quot;how-we-did-this&quot;,&quot;isOpen&quot;:false}\" data-wp-class--is-open=\"context.isOpen\" data-wp-init--scroll-into-view=\"callbacks.onInitScrollIntoView\"><div class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__title\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.onClick\"><div>How we did this<\/div><button class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__icon\"><span data-wp-bind--hidden=\"context.isOpen\"><i class=\"icon icon-library__light icon__circle-plus\"><svg style=\"width: 1em; height: 1em;\"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/plugins\/prc-icon-library\/build\/icons\/sprites\/light.svg#circle-plus\"><\/use><\/svg><\/i><\/span><span data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!context.isOpen\" hidden><i class=\"icon icon-library__light icon__circle-minus\"><svg style=\"width: 1em; height: 1em;\"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/plugins\/prc-icon-library\/build\/icons\/sprites\/light.svg#circle-minus\"><\/use><\/svg><\/i><\/span><\/button><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__content\">\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For this post about the number of living American World War II veterans in 2020, we used veteran&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/vetdata\/docs\/Demographics\/New_Vetpop_Model\/Vetpop16_Executive_Summary.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\">population projections<\/a>&nbsp;calculated by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/VETDATA\/index.asp\">the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. The projections estimate the number of U.S. veterans each year from Sept. 30, 2015, to Sept. 30, 2045.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA\u2019s projections show that between Sept. 30, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2020, 245 WWII veterans are expected to be lost each day. These projections were calculated before <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/topics\/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19\/\">the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> and do not take any deaths related to that disease into account. The last living American veteran from the war is projected to die in 2044.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Living WWII veterans are spread around the country, and the most populous states have the largest numbers. California and Florida are each home to more than 30,000 veterans from the war. Each of those states is home to 10% of the nation\u2019s total living WWII veteran population.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World War II service members\u2019 numbers have dwindled from around 939,000 veterans in 2015 to about 300,000 in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":584,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063501","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[203,81,100,366,98,428],"bylines":[850],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[521,525,529,526,527,528,522,520,523,517,518,519],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-10002","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-greatest-generation","category-military-veterans-2","category-military-veterans-1","category-military-veterans-3","category-war-international-conflict-1","category-war-international-conflict-2","bylines-katherine-schaeffer","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-data-labs","research-teams-global","research-teams-global-migration-and-demography","research-teams-internet","research-teams-journalism","research-teams-methods","research-teams-pew-research-center","research-teams-politics","research-teams-race-and-ethnicity","research-teams-religion","research-teams-science","research-teams-social-trends"],"label":"Short 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