um jaw,” a debilitating and usually fatal disease where radium attacks the bones and rots away the jaw. In fact, Mae lived to be a very old woman. Today, at the age of 108, she may be the very last living radium girl.
9 Werner Franz
The Last Living Crew Member Of The Hindenburg
Everyone has heard of the Hindenburg. The gigantic German passenger aircraft exploded, burned, and crashed at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937. It seems incredible anyone could walk away from that fiery crash, but of the 97 crew and passengers on board, 62 would survive. Today, 77 years later, that number is down to one. Werner Franz was a 14-year-old cabin boy on the Hindenburg and is the only living crew member from that historic event.
As a cabin boy, he worked from 6:30 AM until 9:30 PM serving the ship’s officers and crew. His job was to prepare the messroom for all meals and serve the crew coffee at night. By the time he was on his first voyage to the United States, Franz had been to South America aboard the Hindenburg several times. He had his job down to a routine. The evening the Hindenburg approached the tower in Lakehurst, Franz was still busy washing and putting away dishes in the mess.
He was lucky to be where he was, toward the front of the ship. Just as he was putting away a coffee cup, he heard a noise. The entire ship shuddered and sank at the stern, lifting the bow upwards. He ran out of the mess to the gangway, where he saw a ball of flame rushing towards him as the hydrogen cells exploded and burned. Just then, he was doused with water as the forward water ballast tank shifted and poured water toward the rear of the ship.
The water helped prevent Franz from being burned, but how to escape this burning ship? He remembered the provision hatch used to transfer stores onto the ship. He ran to it, sat down on a beam—with the glow of the burning ship all around him—and he kicked open the hatch. Franz looked down and saw the ground rushing up toward him. He waited until the Hindenburg was close to the ground and jumped. Just then, Franz caught his last lucky break As he hit the ground, the ship lurched back up into the air. This gave him just enough time to run out from underneath the falling immensity of the burning ship.
Franz would survive wet, uninjured, and alive. Later, Franz asked for permission to return to the Hindenburg to look for a watch his grandfather had given him. Amazingly, he found his watch in the burned and twisted wreckage.
8 John Cruickshank
Last Living Victoria Cross Winner For Action During World War II
The highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces is the Victoria Cross. Today, John Cruickshank is the only living World War II combatant to have won this prestigious military award, and boy did he earn it.
John Cruickshank was the pilot of a PBY Catalina airplane whose mission it was to seek out and destroy German U-boats during World War II. It carried six 113-kilogram (250-lb) depth charges to get the work done. On his 48th mission and cruising at 610 meters (2,000 ft) above the Arctic Ocean, he and his crew spotted U-347 on the surface and moved in for the kill. They came in low over the U-boat, but the depth charges failed to drop.
The PBY circled around to come in again, but the element of surprise was lost and the Germans were ready for them with their deck guns. As they brought the PBY in low for a second attack, the Germans opened fire. Bullets and shells from the U-boat shredded the PBY, killing one man and wounding several more. Cruickshank took the worst of it, having been hit an incredible 72 times. Riddled with bullets in his limbs and lungs, he held the PBY steady and dropped all six depth charges, sinking the sub.
The injured crew now had to fly the badly damaged PBY five hours back to their base in Scotland. Bleeding and lapsing in and out of consciousness, Cruickshank refused morphine so he could fly the plane if needed. It was a smart choice, because when the PBY reached its base, the copilot could not land it. Cruickshank took