Ninety years ago, Harry Richard Landis enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was 18 years old and served about 60 days before World War I came to an end.
Landis died in Florida on Monday at age 108. It is widely believed that Landis' death leaves only one surviving American veteran of the Great War: 107-year-old Frank Buckles of Charles Town, W.Va.
For more than a decade, photographer David DeJonge has been documenting U.S. veterans of the conflicts of the 20th century. He met Landis at his retirement home near Tampa, Fla., last year.
DeJonge tells Robert Siegel that they talked about the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and the young soldier's duties during his brief service in World War I.
"We're trying to capture the rest of these stories, share them with the world, so they can understand this great war," DeJonge says.
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