by Andy Kubis, producer
Ten years ago Richard Rubin set out to interview every last living World War I veteran. There were only a few dozen left, aged 101 to 113. Rubin says that those who fought in World War II are now celebrated as “The Greatest Generation,” but there was no such honor for veterans of the previous world war. He hopes his book, The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War, will help change that.
On the book’s website, you can watch several videos from Rubin’s interviews with the veterans. This one was conducted in July of 2006. 106-year-old Laurence Moffitt recalls the experience of getting gassed and shelled in the trenches of France 85 years earlier.