TYLER, Texas — Jack Hetzel is a 102-year-old WWII veteran who lives in the Piney Woods of East Texas and remembers D-Day well.
"I happened to be in England on D-Day and I was a telephone switchboard operator," Hetzel said. "I heard a voice on the radio, We have just invaded France! And I jumped up and grabbed my rifle and headed for the door."
While most remember D-Day as a turning point in World War II, Hetzel said people have to honor those who lost their lives.
"When I got there they had a big flag and it was waving in the air just like that real slowly and I just pulled in there and pulled on the emergency brake, didn’t even turn off the engine and just sat there and cried. All those tombstones out there, my buddies in the military that were lost and a lot of them, a majority were lost on D-Day," Hetzel said, talking about arriving at the cemetery.
While Hetzel only went to school through the third grade, after retiring from the military he went on to write books and preach. In fact, at 102, it’s something he still does every Sunday.
"It’s something that I am. It’s not a vocation; it’s me," Hetzel said.
Hetzel takes preaching beyond the walls of his church too, with no end in sight.
"Every day Monday through Friday, I send out a short devotion. I don’t intend to stop, in fact I have really asked God not to cause me to stop until I’m dead," Hetzel said.
But regardless of the battles he's been through, Hetzel is always loving those around him and making a friend wherever he goes.
"I took that sort of as a philosophy of life. Every country I’ve been in I've made friends. So I have a home everywhere I go," Hetzel sang.