World War II veteran Carl Dekel celebrated his 100th birthday earlier this month and was interviewed by a local news station that captured the centenarian delivering poignant words that have since gone viral.
The aged Marine, in his dress uniform with medals adorning his chest, was reflecting on his long life when he condemned how the country had changed while speaking to Tampa Bay’s Fox 13.
“Nowadays, I am so upset that the things that we did, and the things that we fought for, and them boys that died for, it’s all gone down the drain,” said Dekel. “Our country’s going to hell in a hand basket.”
“We haven’t got the country we had when I was raised, not at all. Nobody will ever have the fun I had, nobody will ever have the opportunity I had,” said Dekel, choking back tears.
100 year old veteran break down crying
"This is not the country we fought for" pic.twitter.com/W7Y8XsKLp0
— WilliamA33 (@WilliamA_33) July 2, 2022
Dekel stopped for a moment to regain his composure as the interviewer began to interrupt to see if he was right, but he assured her that “it just takes me time.”
“It’s just not the same. That isn’t what we fought for,” Dekel added. “I shouldn’t be worried about it, I guess. I’m 100 years old, they say.”
Dekel served as a Marine in World War II, and told the outlet that he would fight enlist again if he were a young man today and the country were attacked.
“It was an honor for me to serve my country and if I had to do it again and I was the same age,” said Dekel. “I would do it. I guarantee you.”
“They shipped me straight out to Guantánamo, which was a Navy base, and put me in a machine gun company,” Dekel recounted. He told the Fox 13 that he’s most proud of his Silver Star, his “pride and joy.”
