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Few World War I veterans remain

By CAROL SMITH
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

This November marks the 80th anniversary of Armistice Day, the end of World War I. The generation that served in that war is disappearing.

Although there are no exact statistics on the number of female WWI veterans still living, their numbers are dwindling fast.

Those who went to the front in France are nearly gone.

At one time the Women's Overseas Service League, an organization for those who have served, had 2,500 WWI members. Today, Laura Frost Smith is one of four who remain and the last Army nurse.

About 4.7 million American men and 33,000 women served in the military in WWI. Of those, an estimated 4,800 men and 370 women are alive today, based on projections from the 1990 U.S. Census.

But even those numbers seem high to organizations that would most likely come in contact with them.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., only 36 WWI women and 779 men are receiving benefits.

In Washington state, there are no known American female veterans of the war. Fewer than 100 men remain. In California, Laura Smith is the only known female WWI veteran. There are about 500 male veterans living in that state.

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