WWII Vet Celebrates 99th Birthday

Friends of World War II veteran Charlotte Schwid recently showed up to her Eagle River home to wish her a happy 99th birthday.

Guests brought her flowers and there was a birthday cake.

During her party, "The Quilts of Valor Foundation" presented a quilt to Schwid for her service in World War II. People wrapped Schwid in the quilt, which brought a few tears to her eyes.

Schwid's daughter, Sharon White, says her mother graduated from nursing school on the East Coast, enlisted in the Army and then worked in a military hospital in Tidworth, England, when she was 24-years-old.

She says her mom was there when the D-Day invasion, which happened on June 6, 1944.

"We had soldiers here, soldiers there, soldiers everywhere," said Charlotte Schwid.

"She said the wounded would come in and they would stabilize them, comfort them as best as they could and then they'd all ship out and another wave of wounded would come in," said Charlotte's mother Sharon.

Sharon says her mom worked for another 20 years in nursing after she left England.

Schwid is also an Honor Flight veteran. Honor Flight pays for veterans to go see their war memorials in Washington, D.C. White accompanied her mother on the trip in 2014.

White says her mother hasn't missed an Honor Flight homecoming since then. Veterans return to Anchorage to a hero’s welcome at the airport.

Last Frontier Honor Flight organizers Ron Travis and his wife Lynda attended Schwid's birthday party. Ron Travis said it was an absolute honor to be there.

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