GLENVILLE — Bill Scharoun does not like to make a fuss of the fact that he turned 100 on Feb. 3, or that he set a record as the oldest volunteer of the USS Slater.
“I didn’t feel any different than I felt the day before,” he said. “The years sure do go fast, though.”
Scharoun served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II as a gunner’s mate aboard the USS Osmus, a destroyer escort. It was one of 563 destroyer escorts that served a variety of critical functions in the naval war in the Atlantic and Pacific.
The destroyer escorts were swift, nimble and versatile. They hunted Nazi U-boats, protected convoys of soldiers and supplies in the Atlantic and defended against Japanese submarines and air attacks in the Pacific.
Scharoun was called up from the Navy Reserve to serve as a gunner’s mate during the Korean War, aboard a destroyer, the USS Leary.
For the past two decades, Scharoun led tours of the Slater, the last World War II destroyer escort afloat in America.
“People like Bill bring the ship to life for visitors,” said BJ Costello, chairman of the board of the Slater, known formally as the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum.
Scharoun gave up volunteering a couple years ago because he stopped driving and developed breathing issues. He did manage to attend last year’s commemoration of D-Day for destroyer escort veterans.
The window into World War II experiences from those who fought in it is closing fast.
Scharoun was the last active World War II veteran who volunteered aboard the Slater, said executive director Tim Rizzuto. In 2022, 167,284 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were still alive but they are rapidly dying, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Just four of the more than 600 crew members who served a stint…
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