WW II Vet Sings At Own Wake

ST. CLAIR SHORES, MI — World War II veteran Johnny Wearing of St. Clair Shores is still fighting these days — cancer instead of Nazis. While he helped defeat Hitler, the 92-year-old knows that liver cancer is eventually going to get the better of him. It may be a few weeks or a few months. Nobody knows.

But with the help of a friend, Wearing recently celebrated his life instead of watching it just slip away. On Sunday, a “living wake” was held for Wearing, bringing together his family, friends and relatives of the men he fought with over the skies of Europe. He even sang at his own wake.

"I am so happy so many folks are here and are having a good time," Wearing told the crowd of family and friends. "I love you all. Each of you has touched me in a special way, and I hope in some way I've been able to touch you as well."

“A bonafide member of the so-called Greatest Generation, Wearing was born and raised in Detroit. In August 1943, two months after graduating from Eastern High School — a since-closed school at the intersection of Mack Avenue and East Grand Boulevard — Wearing was drafted into the Army. Just 19 years old, he went on to serve as a tail-gunner on a famed B17 nicknamed the "Five Grand" — the 5,000th B17 produced by Boeing after Pearl Harbor. Wearing went on 35 missions in just five months.”

For more, go to the Detroit Free Press.

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Photo of B-17 bomber by U.S. Air Force / Handout / Getty Images News / Getty Images