WWII Veteran turns 100; shares about his time in the Army

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GATE CITY, Va. (WJHL)- World War II veteran Hubert McClellan just turned 100 years old on Tuesday, May 27.
'I was in the infantry in the platoons. We carried the mortar weapons,' he said.
McClellan spent most of his time in Rome after he was drafted into the Army.
'We were following a tank corps, and we were moving so fast that the German tank corps passed… They captured it,' he said. 'We used the same spring [as the Italians] for water. They'd fire shots. Nobody would fire at each other. They'd just shoot every once in a while… if you went to get water, they'd fire a couple of rounds over your head just to let you know that they were still there.'
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'They got everybody together and was telling them about that,' McClellan said. 'Then the Germans launched a few shells over and killed two or three at that.'
McClellan ended up in the kitchen, on the advice of his friend. He mostly drew up rations.
'He signed us up [to be] cooks. I said, 'I can't boil water.' He said I can't neither,' McClellan recalled. 'But he said I thought it'd be safer, so that's where I spent my time in Rome.'
The Army helped him get his education after he got out. He then landed a job at Eastman. He's also been involved in the Gate City community.
'About 63 years I've been in Civitan,' he said. 'It gives you a sense of helping people. And we help a lot of people and a lot of things, and all clubs do that.'
Friends and family gathered at the Civitan Park to celebrate his milestone birthday.
'I just keep breathing, I don't know why I'm here. I don't think I've done anything different,' he said. 'They just haven't rung the bell yet.'
News Channel 11 asked McClellan what he did to make it to this milestone.
'I tried to take care of myself, and if I have a sickness, I don't try to doctor myself,' he said.
He also encouraged others to get involved in their community, whether it be a club or a church, because he fears volunteerism is dying out.
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