The last veterans

Here's an interesting article in the New York Times featuring a half dozen (I think) Japanese veterans of World War 2 who still have their marbles and appear to have active lives.  (As they could join the military as 15 or perhaps even 14 year olds, there are still about 790 veterans still around even though the 80 year anniversary of the end of the war is coming up.  And given Japanese longevity, I guess we might still have another 10 years or so before the last one dies.)   

It ends on a bit of a sad note:

While Mr. Kiyozumi once corresponded with a survivor of the American warship, he feels forgotten and alone. His wife died three decades ago; his best friend on the I-58 died in 2020. No one in his town asks about the war.

“Young people don’t know what we went through,” he said. “They are more interested in their smartphones.”

Nonetheless, as is usual with articles like these, one gets the impression that there's never a Japanese veteran who has been willing to defend the war as a worthwhile exercise.  The cultural turnaround from support for militaristic expansion overrunning neighbours viscously, to Asian peaceniks needing poking to being open to potentially getting involved in conflicts that are not directly self defence, is really remarkable.