D-Day veteran and TikTok star ‘Papa Jake' Larson dies aged 102
An animated speaker who charmed strangers young and old with his quick smile and generous hugs, the self-described country boy from Minnesota was 'cracking jokes till the end', his granddaughter wrote while announcing his death.
Tributes to the veteran quickly filled his Story Time With Papa Jake TikTok account from across the US, where he had been living in Lafayette, California.
'Papa Jake' Larson shared stories to commemorate the Second World War (Thomas Padilla/AP)
Towns around Normandy, still grateful to Allied forces who helped defeat the occupying Nazis in the Second World War, paid homage to him too.
'Our beloved Papa Jake has passed away on July 17 at 102 years young,' granddaughter McKaela Larson posted on his social media accounts.
'He went peacefully.'
'As Papa would say, love you all the mostest,' she wrote.
We have the responsibility to honour these guys who gave us a chance to be alive
Born on December 20 1922 in Owatonna, Minnesota, Mr Larson enlisted in the National Guard in 1938, lying about his age as he was only 15 at the time.
In 1942, he was sent overseas and was stationed in Northern Ireland. He became operations sergeant and assembled the planning books for the invasion of Normandy.
Mr Larson was among the nearly 160,000 Allied troops who stormed the Normandy shore on D-Day, June 6 1944, surviving machine-gun fire when he landed on Omaha Beach.
He made it unhurt to the cliffs that overlook the beach, then studded with German gun emplacements that mowed down American soldiers.
'We are the lucky ones,' Mr Larson told The Associated Press (AP) at the 81st anniversary of D-Day in June.
'We are their family. We have the responsibility to honour these guys who gave us a chance to be alive.'
Mr Larson's service earned him a Bronze Star and a French Legion of Honour award (Eric Risberg/AP)
Mr Larson went on to fight through the Battle of the Bulge, a gruelling month-long fight in Belgium and Luxembourg that was one of the defining moments of the war and of Hitler's defeat. His service earned him a Bronze Star and a French Legion of Honour award.
In recent years, Mr Larson made repeated trips to Normandy for D-Day commemorations — and at every stop, 'Papa Jake' was greeted by people asking for a selfie. In return, he offered up big hugs.
One memorable encounter came in 2023, when he came across Bill Gladden, a then-99-year-old British veteran who survived a glider landing on D-Day and a bullet that tore through his ankle.
'I want to give you a hug, thank you. I got tears in my eyes. We were meant to meet,' Mr Larson told Mr Gladden, their hands clasped tightly. Mr Gladden died the following year.
In his TikTok posts and interviews, Mr Larson combined humorous anecdotes with sombre reminders about the horrors of war.
Reflecting to AP on the three years he was in Europe, Mr Larson said he was 'no hero'. Speaking in 2024, he also had a message to world leaders: 'Make peace not war.'
Mr Larson made repeated trips to Normandy for D-Day commemorations in recent years (Eric Risberg/AP)
He often called himself 'the luckiest man in the world', and expressed awe at all the attention he was getting. 'I'm just a country boy. Now I'm a star on TikTok,' he told AP in 2023.
'I'm a legend! I didn't plan this, it came about.'
Small-town museums and groups around Normandy that work to honour D-Day's veterans and fallen shared tributes online to Mr Larson, one of their most loyal visitors.
'He was an exceptional witness and bearer of memory,' the Overlord Museum posted on Facebook.
'He came every year to the museum, with his smile, his humility and his tales that touched all generations. His stories will continue to live. Rest in peace Papa Jake,' it read. 'Thanks for everything.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
15 hours ago
- Irish Independent
End of a supersonic dream – The Air France Concorde disaster 25 years on
The German cruise line Peter Deillmann Cruises had chartered Concorde for a supersonic start to a cruise holiday from New York to Ecuador. While they sipped champagne and waited for departure, 5km west of the airport in the village of Gonesse, the staff of a budget hotel – the Hotelissimo Les Relais Bleus – were at work as normal. For the two pilots and the flight engineer, as well as the six cabin crew, it was a routine mission. While Concorde had never proved a commercial success on its scheduled routes to the US, Brazil or Venezuela, there was plenty of demand for such charter flights. Five minutes before the supersonic jet began its take-off along runway 26R, a Continental Airlines DC-10 had lost a titanium strip from one of its engines during take-off from the same runway. While that flight was unaffected, this small piece of debris began a sequence of events that would end in tragedy within 90 seconds. Thirty-four seconds after beginning the take-off roll, at a speed of 298km/h, Concorde ran over the metal strip. It cut one of the tyres on the left-hand landing gear, sending a 4.5kg chunk of rubber into the left wing – where some of the 95,000 kilos of fuel for the journey was stored. A tank was ruptured. As the fuel gushed out, it was ignited 'by an electric arc in the landing gear bay or through contact with hot parts of the engine', according to the the official report. At this point the supersonic plane was still on the ground. But Concorde had passed 'V1' – the speed beyond which it is not possible safely to reject a take-off . For this flight V1 was calculated to be 278km/h. Concorde left the ground. But hindered by drag from the undercarriage – which could not be retracted because of the damage – the aircraft was catastrophically short of power and out of control. Despite the pilots' best efforts, the aircraft stalled and struck the hotel. The impact killed all 109 passengers and crew on the plane, as well as four hotel staff. 'At first, the details were sketchy,' recalls Kay Burley. She was on air, presenting Sky News. 'A producer was in my ear, calmly feeding me the basics: a Concorde had crashed shortly after take off from Paris, with a group of German tourists on board. "I started reporting what we knew, conscious that the facts were thin and the story was still unfolding. 'Soon the pictures came in and we began commentating on the shaky camcorder footage from a motorist near the perimeter of Charles de Gaulle airport. "Flames were pouring from beneath the delta wing as the aircraft struggled to climb. 'Moments later, it had crashed into a hotel. One hundred and thirteen people were killed in under two minutes. It didn't seem possible. 'To see such a beauty fail so catastrophically was hard to comprehend. "I was shocked but remained calm as I processed the images and shared what I knew with Sky News viewers.' One of those viewers was Jock Lowe, flight operations director for British Airways – the only other carrier flying Concorde. 'It was bewilderment at BA. Whilst we had considered what would happen if it did crash, we didn't believe it would happen.' Captain Lowe was the longest-serving Concorde pilot, and knows the aircraft better than anyone else. The big question as the reports came in, he says, was: 'What shall we do – do we keep flying BA aircraft? What do we check? My little input was to say: 'As well as the engines, check the wheels and tyres and brakes'. 'I felt, like everyone else, a bit of disbelief, sadness for the project and sadness for all those poor people.' The senior aviation executive, Jonathan Hinkles, recalls: 'I was working for an airline in Gatwick at the time and wandered into our airline operations room in the afternoon of that day, just to routinely see how things were going on for the day – to be told by our ops team that there'd been a terrible accident involving Concorde outside Paris. 'It was not totally clear at that point just how awful the events had been. But clearly it was traumatic, tragic and a real shock to the system. 'I'd flown my one and only trip on Concorde myself with British Airways the year before, which is a memory that I'll always keep very fondly. "And so the fact that another trip had ended in tragedy such a short time later outside Paris was a shock to everybody in the airline industry, but also one that I felt keenly myself.' As the investigators sifted through the wreckage and eventually reached their conclusions, Kay Burley was covering events for Sky News. 'I remember the details of the tragedy unfolding like it was just yesterday,' she says. 'But the part that stayed with me most came from the black box. "The captain said nothing in his final moments. No mayday. No instructions. Just silence. He knew there was nothing to be done. Chilling.' The accident report advised that Concorde's airworthiness certificate should be suspended pending modifications. For people in the area around Heathrow, the familiar din of the twice-daily departures and arrivals fell silent. Lyn Hughes, founding editor of Wanderlust magazine, says: 'Living in Windsor, like all residents I was very aware of Concorde – we used to regularly hear it and see it. "Indeed, the skylight in the Wanderlust Windsor office used to sometimes rattle when it went over. 'The sound of it was very distinctive; you always knew what it was. Yet, despite it being noisy, there was a lot of affection towards it.' Sixteen months later, Kay Burley was on board as Concorde returned to service for British Airways. 'It was 7 November 2001, and I flew from London to New York. Seated next to Sting, we raised a quiet glass to those who'd been lost. Both the British and French Concordes landed at JFK that day, reunited in the city they had flown to so very often before.' Within two years, Concorde flew commercially for the final time. On April 10, 2003, Rod Eddington – the then-British Airways chief executive – announced that supersonic flying would end on October 24 that year. As he spoke, the afternoon flight from New York to Heathrow had only 20 of its 100 seats filled. 'The writing was already on the wall,' says Captain Lowe. 'The crash itself knocked confidence of the passengers, it knocked the confidence of everyone in the aviation industry. 'Undoubtedly Concorde never got back to where it was after the crash. "It was only going to be a matter of time after that. In the end it had flown for 27 years, it had been pretty trouble-free.' 'When it did its final flight, a lot of residents – myself included – went out on the street to watch it go over,' says Lyn Hughes. 'I think that affection will be hard to replicate. With its distinctive design, it had personality and it seemed to symbolise the romance of travel but I'm not sure we will ever regain that with flying.'
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- The Irish Sun
Major garden retailer slashes cost of gorgeous blue hydrangeas that ‘bloom 30 flowers in first season' from £40 to £20
A HUGE garden retailer has slashed the price of stunning blue hydrangeas by half. 2 These gorgeous hydrangeas have been slashed in price Credit: Gardening Express 2 The huge flowers can bloom until October Credit: Gardening Express Their vibrant colours and large size mean they instantly elevate any garden, and the monstrous plants can grow up to 30 flower heads during their first flowering season. If you're looking to transform your garden into a haven this summer, and make your outdoor space the envy of your neighbours , And if you're a garden lover on a budget, The plants come in 10-litre pots, and are perfect for beds, borders or planters. Read more garden stories The XXXL Mophead plant has giant blue blooms, which can grow to the size of footballs when fully grown. The flowers will last for the entire summer, before fading to a purple colour during autumn. If your garden soil is heavy in alkaline, the blooms turn from blue to pink , and can even turn a lavender colours, depending on the soil's PH. Each winter, you should cut the plant near ground level, and watch new stems pop up in the new year. Most read in Fabulous Gardening Express said: "Wow! These plants are monsters, and can be expected to throw out up to 30 strong flower heads during their first flowering season in your garden. "A wonderful Hydrangea variety with huge flowers, often found in high class florist bouquets, it has really massive blooms." I'm a gardening pro – my simple tip will revive 'dead' hydrangeas in seconds How to get hydrangeas to bloom until October A TikTok flower expert has revealed her By doing these things, it will help stop the One sister from the popular TikTok duo, Miller Flowers, shared the advice online which attracted a number of comments, likes and shares from garden enthusiasts. The first tip is around watering, as "hydrangeas are plants that love water". The 5 best flowers to help bees to thrive Nature experts at Faith In Nature have shared the 5 best flowers Brits can plant in their gardens to help bees thrive. Rebecca Miller, Fabulous' Associate Editor and keen gardener explains why "bees are brilliant". "They are vital. They pollinate our food and play a crucial role in our ecosystem. But climate change, the increasing use of pesticides and loss of habitat means bees are endangered. No matter how big your garden or outside space is, you can plant a flower or two to help bees." Lavender Lavender can thrive in a sunny spot with well-drained soil. It's fragrant and flowers all-summer-long meaning it's a big hit with bees - especially bumble bees. Sunflowers This cheery flower giant are bee-magnets. And if you look closely at a sunflower head, the big 'flowers' are actually a cluster of small flowers, called an inflorescence which attract pollinators. Ideally, grow sunflowers in groups to provide nectar and pollen for as many bees as possible. At the end of summer, collect the dried seeds from the sunflower heads to feed the birds or plant next year. Heather These abundant, bell-shaped blooms are brimming with nectar and pollen – which is good news for bees. Cornflowers A vivid blue wildflower, cornflowers are often planted alongside other meadow blooms, like ox-eye daisies and poppies. They grow on tall stems and are packed with nectar, making them particularly attractive to bees. Cornflowers bloom for a long time and are simple to grow, so they're perfect for first-time gardeners and experienced alike. Crocuses (and snowdrops) Later this summer, when you're starting to plan for your Spring displays, consider crocuses and snowdrops. They provide bees, such as the queen buff-tailed bumblebee and male hairy-footed flower bees, with vital early pollen as they emerge from their winter hibernation. It is recommended to water them three times a week, for ten minutes. Where the hydrangeas are positioned in the garden is also a valuable component to consider for their optimal flowering. Hydrangeas need both sun and shade. A little It can encourage more blooms, and help them deal with heat. However, it is not always necessary, also depending on the soil used, and time of the year.
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Zookeepers in Prague turn into puppeteers to save baby vultures
Zookeepers in Prague have become puppeteers to save newborn birds rejected by their parents. The latest was a lesser yellow-headed vulture chick which hatched three weeks ago. Bird keeper Antonin Vaidl said that when a dummy egg disappeared from the nest, it signalled to keepers that the parents were not ready to care for their two babies, despite doing so in 2022 and 2023. A lesser yellow-headed vulture is fed using a puppet that imitates a parent bird (Petr David Josek/AP) The first-born is being kept in a box and fed using a puppet designed to mimic a parent bird, while another is expected to hatch in the next few days. Mr Vaidl said the puppet is needed to make sure the bird will be capable of breeding, which it will not if it gets used to human interaction. He explained that the puppet does not have to be a perfect replica of an adult bird because the chick responds to certain signals, such as the pale orange coloration on its featherless head and neck. Lesser yellow-headed vultures live in the wild in Latin America and Mexico. Prague Zoo is one of only three zoos in Europe that breed them. In the past, the park successfully applied this treatment to save the critically endangered Javan green magpie and two rhinoceros hornbill chicks. The puppet-feeding technique is applicable for birds that live in pairs. 'The method has been working well,' Mr Vaidl said. 'We'll see what happens with the vultures.'
