(LISTEN): 100-year-old Columbia World War II veteran honored Friday says he thinks of his friends who died in the war

There were few dry eyes at the Roger Wilson Boone County Government Center in downtown Columbia on Friday, when a 100-year-old World War II veteran from Columbia was honored by the U.S. Navy and by the U.S. Exercise Tiger Foundation.

The event observed the 81^st anniversary of D-Day, which was the Allied invasion of the beaches of Normandy France on June 6, 1944. World War II veteran Robert Barlett of Columbia wasn’t at D-Day, but he served during the war and received a loud ovation from the audience. Mr. Bartlett tells reporters that it’s heartwarming after so many years that the memories of the sacrifices of World War II still live on:

“I lost a number of good friends during World War II, and I’m glad I’m still here to represent them,” Mr. Bartlett says.

U.S. Navy recruits placed the American flags in the grass: 137 flags are for names on the Memorial wall, 48 are for Missourians killed on D-Day in 1944 and 15 are for United States Coast Guard sailors who died that day.

More than 16-million Americans served in the military during World War II from 1941-1945. One of them was Mr. Barlett, who was honored Friday. He tells reporters that those 16-million Americans simply did what they believed was their duty to do:

“In World War II, everyone was serving in some capacity. Whether they were making munitions or food. The whole economy was organized,” says Mr. Bartlett.

The U.S. Exercise Tiger Foundation says only 66,000 American World War II veterans are still alive. Mr. Bartlett is one of them. Two U.S. Marines, 86-year-old James Marsden Sr. and his son, 62-year-old James Marsden Jr. and a number of others were also honored on Friday.

Meantime, a Columbia city councilman who served in the U.S. Navy delivered a proclamation from Mayor Barbara Buffaloe during Friday’s D-Day ceremony. Columbia fifth ward councilman Don Waterman, a U.S. Navy veteran, tells 939 the Eagle that it was a remarkable ceremony:

“Days like today we remember D-Day. What’s overlooked and I forgot to mention (during his podium remarks) was the fact that two years prior to that, June 4-6, was the battle of Midway. The turning point in the Pacific. Just like D-Day was the beginning of the end, you know Midway was the turning point in the Pacific,” Mr. Waterman says.

The Battle of Midway happened in June 1942. The United States and Japanese Naval forces battled in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.