How This 106-Year-Old World War II Navy Vet Survived a Kamikaze Attack

Of the more than 11 million American armed service members who served during World War II, only about 66,000 are still alive today. Chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan interviewed 106-year-old Navy veteran William McClintick, who commissioned as an ensign in the US Naval Reserve in 1939.

After conducting Neutrality Patrols in the Atlantic Ocean aboard the battleship USS Idaho, McClintick served aboard the escort carrier USS Savo Island in the Pacific theater during World War II. In 1945, McClintick and his crew survived the impact of a Japanese kamikaze plane that crashed into the ship’s mast during operations in the Philippines.

McClintick shares detailed stories from his Navy career, his candid thoughts on current US leadership, and his experience his experience living past age 100.