Harry Richard Landis

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Harry Richard Landis
December 12, 1899(1899-12-12) – February 4, 2008
Place of birth	Miller Township, Missouri, United States
Place of death	Sun City Center, Florida
Allegiance	American
Years of service	October 1918 – November 1918
Battles/wars	World War I

Harry Richard Landis (December 12, 1899 – February 4, 2008^[1]) was, at age 108, the older of the last two surviving American First World War veterans. His last residence was in a Sun City Center, Florida nursing home, where he cared for his 100-year-old wife.

Landis was born to Jason and Alice Landis in Miller Township, Marion County, Missouri, between Hannibal and Palmyra, where he grew up on the family farm. He was the seventh of eight children.

He joined the United States Army in October 1918, but served his time in Missouri. Though he did not complete basic training (due to the war ending less than a month later), his experience of mopping the floor at an army hospital included exposure to the Spanish flu, which was actually the leading cause of death worldwide in the year 1918, killing about 75 million people.^[2]

At the time of his death, Landis was one of the last two surviving native-born American WWI veterans.^[3] The other one is Frank Buckles. A Canadian-born American, John Babcock, served in the Canadian Army during the war, also survived Landis.