Hitting the Century Mark: VA Celebrates World War II Veterans
Three World War II Veterans over the age of 100 were recently honored for their military service at a special birthday celebration organized by staff at the Beaumont VA Outpatient Clinic.
Army Veteran Louis Scott turned 102 years young in September 2023, and Army Veteran Ivory Joubert and Air Force Veteran Sam Daleo both turned 100 in August, 2023.
Scott, a longtime VA patient who served as a cook in the Army, said he was very grateful for the celebration and joined in singing happy birthday to the other two Veterans.
“I’ve been around a long time,” he said. “I remember when gas was 15 cents a gallon.”
Lindsey Crain, Deputy Medical Center Director of the Houston VA, spoke to the crowd at the celebration.
“At VA, it is our honor and privilege to care for these three World War II heroes,” Crain said. “We couldn’t be more proud to participate in their milestone birthday celebrations and thank them for their service.”
Four generations of the Joubert family were in attendance at the celebration, honoring their loved one with special t shirts and lots of hugs. “Ivory hurt his back in the military but once he got that taken care of, his mother always said he would live to be 100 and she was right,” said Joubert’s family member, Beverly Lee.
Representatives from the City of Beaumont, the offices of Congressman Brian Babin and Congressman Randy Weber, and local VFW and American Legion posts were also at the celebration to give special recognition to the Veterans. Myia Barton, social worker at the Beaumont VA Clinic said she organized the party to do something special for this group of Veterans.
“It was great to see so many members of the southeast Texas community come out and celebrate these Veterans,” she said. “Each of them is incredibly special and seeing their faces light up made my day.”
With more than 300 years of wisdom and memories between them, the three centenarians were happy to share some special words of advice on hitting the century mark with the VA staff gathered for the celebration.
Daleo, who was a staff sergeant in the Air Force more than 75 years ago, credits being inherently kind to others and eating clean as important to his long-term health.
“If you treat others with kindness and respect, they will treat you the same,” he said. “We will all live longer that way.”
Scott agreed. “I don’t sweat the small stuff and I do unto others,” he said. “I also don’t smoke and I only drink top shelf liquor. Every little bit helps.”