Parade celebrates Mayflower WWII veteran's 100th birthday

MAYFLOWER, Ark. - Stars and Stripes are forever, but the heroes that kept the American flag flying over 75 years ago are quickly disappearing. It's one more reason why a Mayflower veteran celebrating his 100th birthday today was surprised with a parade in front of his home.

"They're having a ball out there look at them," Lawrence Ridgeway said.

When you're 100 years old, the biggest gift is being remembered. And Thursday, dozens made sure Ridgeway and his service on the USS Yorktown in World War II was not forgotten.

Harold Robinson and Arkansas's Patriot Guard Riders were guests with Quilts of Valor and the Mayflower Fire and Police Departments.

"Speaking as a veteran myself, anybody who can show respect to a veteran, it is going to make his day,” Robinson said. “I guarantee it."

The small crowd surprised Lawrence's son Mike who was also honored for his service 50 years after the Vietnam War. Both father and son have lost people in wartime and after who will not live to a 100th birthday.

"We understand freedom and what it takes to have it, and it's not free," Mike stated.

According to the World War II Museum, there are 180 fewer World War II veterans living every day. Only one percent of the 16 million U.S. veterans who served in that war are still alive. About 1,000 live in Arkansas.

Janet Freeman, Lawrence's Nurse Practitioner through Veteran Affairs Home Based Primary Care, said attending his birthday was her honor.

"Pretty soon we may not have any with us anymore, so it was a special time to remember we should never forget," she expressed.

Lawrence's nurse staff added if it was up to him, he'd have 100 more birthdays, and they are treasuring every day, before the first-hand account of World War II - its sights and sounds, its terrors and triumphs - disappear.

When Freeman asked Lawrence after the party, "Do you feel like you're 100?", the veteran quickly said, "No", with a laugh. The laughs, cake, balloons, and family are appreciated for any birthday, but when you've also risked your life serving your county, to make sure others can have the same, that appreciation is as enduring as the red, white, and blue.

"For those that have served thank you," Lawrence said. "Thank you all for coming. I appreciate it very much."

Lawrence was a Navy coxswain first class on a 20-millimeter gun from 1942 to 1945. The USS Yorktown served in all the battles in the south pacific during WW2. The aircraft carrier bore its name in honor of the ship lost at the Battle of Midway also in 1942.

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