Shroud

As far as Korea goes, there are probably about 2 million US veterans of that one left as there were 5.7 million or so total at its peak. On them being late to the first one, i would advise caution saying that to may of them's face, Charon. One old boy about 90 decked some wise-guy locally a few years ago shortly before his own passing, as it turned out. In any case, I certainly hope the So. Koreans appreciate it. On Frank Buckles, his mind stayed clear to the end, and he wasn't in favor of Bush War 2 in Iraq as I recall.

I would agree that a Japanese stands a good chance of being the last world-wide WW Two veteran left. The ones who did not commit hari kari, in any case. It wasn't uncommon for the relatively-few Japanese soldiers who were captured to finish themselves off if half a chance presented itself. It's generally thought of in the US public mind that those who were in service post-1945 as "occupation-force veterans", regardless of how the government classifies them. It perhaps should be kept in mind that a number of US WW Two veterans were called-up again for the Korean War, although a great many of those who were double-veterans are gone by now. Many weren't happy about it as can be imagined.

The most decorated US veteran of World war two was Audie Murphy 1925 - 1971; he had a year shaved-off his age to help him enlist which is stated on his tombstone at Arlington Nation Cemetery still. Murphy won every US combat military award for valor during the war, some more than once; he also received the Croix de Guerre and the French Legion of Honor along with the Belgian Cross de Guerre. Suffering what is knows as Post Traumatic Stress today, he remained rather troubled the rest of his life. Actor James Best, who was also a veteran of the war, was a good friend of Murphy's and related an incident during which some teen-agers insulted them while the two were driving about one day in Los Angeles, I believe. Murphy tried to chase them down, but the young idiots were fortunately able to escape. He was an actor mostly in westerns, but played himself in 1955's To Hell and Back. Murphy died in a small airplane crash in bad weather in 1971 in Virginia.

Not directly related to Bush Senior, but I think everybody best hope Ted Cruz does not end up President here in the States. He's so extreme he almost makes Donald Trump look like a moderate, as he is an ultra=conservative. Actually, we may be witnessing the end of the conservative republican party in the States - many won;'t support trump, many WILL if he runs an indie campaign, etc. I expect a couple of others to run independent bids as well, possibly on the right and left both.

I understand that actress Sheila Sim, Lady Attenborough died on January 20, 2016 - another miss for the DL committee. I really believe the committee needs to listen to suggestions a bit closer, although I realize the year is very young. No doubt the DL 50 for 2016 will score several successes in the year simply due to the age and/or health of many of them. Unfortunately, I agree Dean Stockwell is a likely prospect for the fairly-near future. His brother Guy passed some years back.

Abe Vigoda (95) and on the Deathlist for '16 has been mistakenly reported as deceased at least twice over the years, first by People magazine way back in 1982, then by a large northeastern US TV station several years later. I knew he was still alive, but many people think he's been long gone. This has become something of a running joke which Vigoda has played along with in good humor. Ironically, perhaps, actress Florence Stanler who played his television wife on the Barney Miller spin-off series Fish in 1977 - 1978 died herself in 2003.

This item could go into Sad Last Days or here just as easily, I suppose. Stella Stevens is reportedly suffering dementia of some type - she certainly looks unhealthy for whatever that's worth.

Glenn Frey dead at 67; this one stings deeply for me given what a major presence in rock he was both with the Eagles, and as a solo artist. I'm not sure he would actually qualify as another miss for the DL as it seems some considerable effort went into keeping how serious his health issues were relatively quiet. Apparently, though, rumors that he was quite sick had been circulating since last November, and an awards ceremony had been delayed due to his health if I understood the news reports correctly. In any case, another major loss for fans of my generation especially.

Roughly 3,000 Americans served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of volunteers during the Spanish Civil War; Delmer Berg (b.1915) is believed to be the last of them - he lives in California.

Wanted to quickly mention perhaps a lesser animated series Batman: the Brave and the Bold (2008 - 2011) starred Diedrich Bader as Batman who would have a co-star each week with various other DC heroes like Aquaman, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, and various others. This series took a lighter-tone than previous animated series had done , and was thus never as popular. Bader did a decent job as Batman, but Kevin Conroy has since returned to being the usual animation voice for Batman; he is so identified with the character by now; many won't accept anyone else. Maybe the best episode was "The Chill of the Night' which had Batman finally track down the gunman who killed his parents, while the supernatural beings the Phantom Stranger and the Spectre gambled for Batman's destiny. This adapted a story-line from the comic itself from some years ago, and did quite a good job on this one. Adam West turned up once doing the voice of some secondary hero, at least. BTW, in a recent photo of West and Burt ward, Ward seems to have gained considerable weight in more recent years. He does not look all that great now, unfortunately, and might be somebody else for the DL to keep an eye on.

There were some special dvd editions of the 1953 The War of the Worlds back around 2005 when the so-so Tom Cruise remake was first released. If the special collector's edition dvd was released in the UK, it has some interesting commentary tracks by stars Ann Robinson and Gene Barry, plus a second where the film is discussed by film historian Bill Warren, director Joe Dante and sci-fi/horror collector and sometime actor Bob Burns. Ann Robinson says she was 70 in 2004, apparently, and twenty when the film was released, so it seems she was born in 1933 or 1934 (rather than 1929 as is often stated). Robinson really kept the film alive until it was realized as a classic. The alien fighting machines have been produced as hobby kits in the States incidentally, for those interested. She and William Phipps may be the last surviving credited cast members left from the film. Phipps is one of the three fellows in the small town who is vaporized by the first machine which lands in California early on in the film, though he appeared in Five (1951) and others during the decade, some definitely not in the "classics" division. Bill Warren's book Keep Watching the Skies! is probably the last word on 1950's sci-fi films, and was revised in the mid-2000's - it covers films through 1962. Most are US efforts, although some UK ones are covered such as the Cushing/Lee Hammer Frankenstein films and a few others from France, etc., which had US theatrical releases when new - highly recommended.

Yes, you're very correct, Magere Heim - I knew Stan Lee was also a WW II veteran, but "let it slip" when commenting awhile ago. In one of the documentaries about Marvel Comics, he says he was fortunate enough to end up helping script training films and the like once it became known he was a writer. They probably didn't quite realize he was in the comics field, although my dad said they were actually rather popular items on the bases among the service guys. The paper drives during the war claimed most Golden Age comics and a great many pulp magazines of the time, which in effect helped create comics collecting. Herman Wouk I should have recalled as well, of course. Later on in Korea, General MacArthur wanted to finish the Communist Chinese off, and possibly Russia as well. Russia did have the bomb by then, but not very many of them, one should recall. This was what MacArthur was "relieved of duty" for, as he intended to go ahead regardless, at least with invading China. President Truman called him home, but was wary of some sort of uprising, frankly, if he had court-martial proceedings started against General MacArthur, unlikely as that may sound today., He was very popular among the public, and the military as well, of course. A number of Soviet flyers flew against the US and allies during the Korean conflict as some here may know. I believe what aces the North Korean/Chinese had during this conflict were actually Soviet pilots for the most part.

I have seen an estimate of 2027 for when the last US veteran passes, somewhat sooner than the one cited above. For the curious, Frank Buckles was the last surviving World War one US veteran dying at 110 in 2011. No doubt a few of the youngest veterans of the Second War will live to a similar rather outrageous age, although one of the local old gents is declining fairly-rapidly, now. There are perhaps a a handful of others besides him who have retired to this region, although several of those have passed in the last year or so.

I'm sure that the higher figures of surviving US World War Two veterans include the non-combat people and perhaps the occupation-forces veterans until late 1946, anyway, as I was mentioning about President Truman waiting a year to declare the war officially at an end. Perhaps he had some concerns that Stalin would make some aggressive moves despite the atomic bomb, I don't know. It has been said for years in diverse places that General Patton, before his own death, had wanted to continue the war against the Soviet Union, and possibly some other top Generals did as well. Put that down as rumor if you like. Actually, a few years ago, 1,200 + US WW II veterans were dying each day; the National WW Two Museum says that roughly 490 are dying per-day now as their ranks have thinned-out considerably in the past decade. There are at least three on the DeathList 2016; Ex Presidents Bush and Carter along with former Senator Bob Dole (if you ever wondered where his lame arm came from, now you know). Kirk Douglas may be another as well, although am less-sure of him. In any event, the museum says 885 thousand US veterans were left as of New Year's Day, I take it, from figures supplied by the Veteran's Affairs Administration. The higher figures must include the post-August, 1945 to September 1946 people, and probably involves simple dated information and/or mistakes as well. My own family including my dad served,* and his brothers as well in various theteaters of operation. The family has been in the "New World" since colonial times many ancestors in the military, so I do tend to keep some fairly-close track of such. As noted, one tends to see Korean and Vietnam veterans far more often now in the Obituaries than those from the world war. There were over 16 million US veterans who served in the war at the peak. Towards the end of the war, our military weren't being nearly as strict about age-limits and the like as earlier on, so the younger ones mostly came in in 1944-1945. *No, I'm not 65 or 70, just came along kind of late for that generation.

While not really an active member on this thread or w/Shadow Lists, it does seem the Dl committee should pay a bit more attention to suggestions made by DeathList-ers out here. From back in '15. Natalie Cole would have been a decent pick, I think, and set a DL record had she been. It's a question why she had the liver transplant in the first place back in 2009 as people with histories of drug abuse like her are *supposedly* not eligible for them here in the States. Then again, Larry Hagman managed to purchase himself one back in the 1990's after the years of wild partying caught up to him (dating back to his I Dream of Jeannie days). He (perhaps somewhat regrettably) bought himself a number of extra years there before the cancer returned and finally sent him on his way. As the saying goes, though "Money talks while Poverty walks.' In Herr Dick Cheney's case, both money and position got him his new heart a few years ago; with him, he was past the age-limit. That was the really dangerous one in the Bush/Cheney regime (or Cheney/Bush, if you prefer). Many of us always considered him the President in-effect while using "Little Bush" as the public face, puppet, what-have-you.

May I add most ANY US TV journalists? That is for '16 or 2017, I should make clear. Bob Simon in 2015 was a pretty big catch if not on the DL- Tom Brokaw would be a considerably bigger one - I think he's on several Shadowlists as that form of cancer he is fighting has a high mortality rate, people. I believe Joan Lunden has been battling breast cancer for past two or three years now, as well. I'm not sure why, but it seems a job requirement that one be a jerk in order to be a journalists, especially one on the "tellY' as you say ascross the waters. This become especially apparent during our Presidential election years, 'though more so this time around, maybe, than in many previous cycles. On the Right and the Left, at that.

Interesting thread here, people! As another who's on the wrong side of 50 now, I think I have earned my right to some thoughts on the subject along with the assorted "kiddies' here sharing their opinions. I suppose one views life - and death - always from the type of life that each of us has led, naturally enough. I tend to view the world rather cynically for perfectly valid reasons and events which have happened to myself over the years since those much-missed days of childhood. Not that there haven't been many episodes where I very much have enjoyed life if generally only for short periods, but I think the fear of a bad death rather than death itself concerns a great many of us of whatever age. I have had to see several relatives die some nasty deaths ranging from dementia to cancer to ALS among some other "wonderful" things out there searching for us - one aunt made it to 100, but her mind left awhile before that mark. I most likely have picked up some chances at a long run given the ages some of my ancestors reached, but that is not always a great thing, of course. Do I fear the Reaper (with apologies to Blue Oyster Cult, of course)? I should have to say no now - reaching the point where there's more life behind than ahead seems to help ease the fear of dying curiously enough, in my case, anyway. I still have some goals I would like to reach, although I'm not spending my time shivering in terror of death overtaking me unexpectedly. Given the rise of terrorism in the States, it just might in such a manner, but I won't let myself be be ruled by such possibilities.

Ed Vezy, the last surviving crew member of the U.S. S. Oklahoma died @ 96 on 1/2/2016. The Oklahoma was destroyed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and deemed too badly damaged to try salvaging as some of the other ships were re-built.

The number of surviving US WW II's must be rather low by now, although there are a lot of veterans generally in my area; several have passed recently, but I do know of two locally-born ones still going, (91 and 94/95) respectively. One notices a number of Korean Conflict/War veterans passing now, most of them at least in their mid-80's. For some reason, President Truman didn't officially declare the conflict at an end until September 1946, so the numbers of surviving US veterans of WW II one sees listed most often are actually inflated due to this decision on Truman's part. The number of actual war-time or combat veterans must actually be closer to be half a million or so, I am guessing by this point with their average age being 94, now.

Well, I'm wondering about the Deathlist committee myself now; David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and now Dan Haggerty, 3 oversights, it would seem. Haggerty is probably the least well-known of these by some distance, although he gained lasting fame from The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams TV series (1977 - 1978) with two more films in the early 1980's, one of which concluded the series' story-line about Adams being wanted for a murder he didn't commit. The real-life "Grizzly" Adams was James Adams in the 19th century who was an animal trainer, and mountain man who did have several grizzly bears as pets. He died in fact, from after-effects several years later) of wounds the actual Ben the bear's mother inflicted upon him. He never seems to have been wanted for murder in reality, though. Haggerty continued acting to the end with three more films in post-production at the time of his death.

The 1976 film version of Logan's Run led to a short-lived TV series of the same name in 1977 - 1978. Logan's Run (TV) featured Gregory Harrison as Logan, Heather Menzies-Urich as Jessica, and a rather dumb robot character called Rem played by Donald Moffat. Francis was portrayed by Randy Powell(US actor) here. The series was only "so--so' although people like David Gerrold and George Clayton Johnson wrote for it - the network interfered, and insisted on some changes to the plot, probably including the addition of Rem. Imagine some here may recall this vaguely as all episodes did air in the UK, while the final three were pulled by CBS here in the "colonies." US audiences didn't get to see the entire series until it showed up on one of Ted Turner's cable channels in the late 1980's, although it was released to the US home video market within the past few years. All of the stars of the series are still with us, although Ms. Menzies-Urich has battled cancer in the relatively recent past. Marvel did a short-run comic which is easy to find, and worthwhile for those interested. There was talk of doing Marvel's Prince Namor the Submariner as a TV series around the same time; it would have resembled The Man from Atlantis probably, but since Submariner also flies, and has vast superhuman strength, it would have been hard to do the show very well with the effects technology of the time.

Another "Yank" sci-fi series from this same period is Patrick Duffy's The Man from Atlantis (NBC, 1977-1978), which ran in the UK against Dr Who ironically seeming more popular in the UK than in the States. Duffy had the grace and agility to do quite well as "Mark Harris,' the titular character; his costars were sexy Belinda Montgomery as Dr Elizabeth Merriell, and her fellow scientist played by the late Alan Fudge (1944 - 2011 while Victor Buono showed up often as a sea-going mad scientist Harris opposed. For those interested, there were 4 pilot films oddly enough which were all better than the series which followed episodes of which were often on the silly side. I think the final installment may not have been broadcast in the uS, which was a fairly-common practice at the time ny US networks. There are 3 or 4 novels based on the series by Richard Woodley as well as a Marvel comic written by the ill-fated Bill Mantlo which only lasted seven issues for those interested in finding them - I think the novels had UK printings. Curiously, Duffy also found fame on Dallas as did Jared Martin from the contemporary series The Fantastic Journey.

In the 1970's, UFOs and the Bermuda Triangle were very popular among many in the US especially, it seems, and this gave rise to some sci-fi series. One of the more-obvious ones inspired by such interest, people, was The Fantastic Journey (1977, NBC). It dealt with a scientific crew whose ship sails into a greenish bank of fog or clouds, and they then find themselves on a weird island afterwards. The show only ran for 10 episodes, as it was placed against The Waltons and Welcome Back, Kotter, both of which were very popular then (despite Kotter's being rather inane much of the time). Series stars included Jared Martin before he found fame on Dallas a little later on, Roddy McDowall from the 2nd or 3rd show onward, and Ike Eisenman, a popular juvenile actor who turned up in a lot of sci-fi items in the '70's. Gorgeous Katie Saylor joined the cast a Liana, a half-human/half alien from Atlantis. This show was actually pretty neat as the people encountered different cultures by simply walking thru invisible "gateways" to other times, mostly ones in the future. The series hasn't ever been released to home video, but it did play a lot on SyFy channel during its early years. Come to think of it, Martin might be a possibility to watch as he's 75 this year. Anybody else recall this obscure title?

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned here before, but way back in 1975 Gerry Anderson was involved in making a program which was to have been a pilot for another series until a 2nd season for Space:1999 was given the go-ahead called Into Infinity. It was show in the States as part of a juvenile afternoon series called NBC Special Treat as a rare sci-fi offering on these type of series which were common in the 1970's. Into Infinity deals with a family on a starship fight initially meant to travel to a neighboring star system which runs into a number of unexpected problems. I still recall the show even today although I haven't seen it since it was first shown here. I don't think it's been issued ot any home video market, but others here might well be interested in checking ito this rather obscure Anderson effort.

Somebody mentioned they had never seen Gone With the Wind here, I believe. Those who want to perhaps should fairly-soon since the wave of ultra-political-correctness in the States has made for a few calls for banning the film-presumably the novel, as well. I'm not sure this will actually happen given its status, but there are those who would like to see it vanish. Apparently nothing involving the Nazis is on the PC radar here, though.