| Harry Landis | |
 | |
| Birth: | 12 December 1899 Miller Township, Missouri, USA |
| Death: | 4 February 2008 Sun City Center, Florida, USA |
| Age: | 108 years, 54 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Centenarian | |
Harry Richard Landis (12 December 1899 – 4 February 2008) was an American centenarian who was, at age 108, the older of the last two American First World War veterans. The final one was Frank Buckles, who died in 2011. John Babcock, a naturalized American, served in the Canadian Army during the war, and also survived Landis.
Biography[]
Landis was born on 12 December 1899 in Miller Township, Marion County, Missouri, between Hannibal and Palmyra, where he grew up on the family farm. He was the seventh of eight children of Jason Landis and Alice (née Rohrer) Landis.
Landis joined the United States Army in October 1918, and joined the Student Army Training Corps while attending Central Methodist University in Missouri. He did not complete basic training due to the war ending less than a month later. His experience of mopping the floor at an army hospital included exposure to the Spanish flu, which was actually the leading cause of death worldwide in the year 1918, killing about 75 million people. Landis was discharged in December 1918, one month after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
He married Eunice Whitson in Clinton, Missouri, USA on 6 October 1928.
Attempting to try to enlist in World War II after the Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, he was rejected as "too old". Landis retired in 1959.
Eunice died of cancer in 1974 at the age of 71. He married Eleanor (née Hyde) Martin in Montgomery, Ohio, USA on 16 October 1976.
Landis died in Sun City Center, Florida, USA on 4 February 2008 at the age of 108 years, 54 days. Eleanor died on 8 December 2008 at the age of 101.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Harry Richard Landis FamilySearch
- Harry Richard Landis Geni
- Harry Richard Landis Find A Grave
- Interview from The Ledger Online
- MSNBC report on Landis's death
- Bay report on Landis's 108th birthday (dead link)
References[]
- Social Security Death Index SSN 236-01-5869
- Social Security Death Index SSN 272-42-6206
- America's last veterans of the "Great War" Talking Proud!
- 1 Known WWI Veteran Left After Bay Area Man Dies TBO, 6 February 2008
- Harry Landis Obituary Legacy