Bill Womack turned 100 years old on October 3rd. As you can imagine, he’s seen a thing or two over the course of his long life. He is a WWII Vet. More than that, Womack is part of a very special group of men – The Texas Liberators. They were the ones who breached the concentration camps and helped bring the prisoners within to safety. Additionally, Mr. Womack is a pillar of his community. As a result, his 100th birthday celebration was a big event for his hometown of Midland, Texas.
Bill Womack witnessed some of the worst that humanity has to offer and we’ll touch more on that later. For now, we’ll follow Bill’s example and take a look at the positive things. You can see just how popular Bill is by watching the News West 9 video of his birthday celebration below. Many people came to give him gifts. You can hear a celebratory car horn from passing motorists a couple of times.
The wizened WWII Vet gave the world a gift on his hundredth birthday. He shared a few pieces of hard-won wisdom with the news crew. About love, the Texas native said, “Just wait for the right one to come along. In the meantime, have a hell of a good time.” Additionally, Mr. Womack had some simple advice about living a long life. “Don’t smoke and don’t drink,” he said.
Womack got a little more serious in speaking about faith. “Be faithful to your country, your god, and your family.”
Most importantly, the WWII Vet isn’t done living by a long shot. “I’m ready to go!” he told the news outlet. “That means I’m startin’ over. If anybody’s listening to this, don’t give up. Hang in there. When you reach a hundred, it even gets better.”
A 100-Year-Old WWII Vet Reflects on His Service
About his service, Womack said, “It was not fun and I haven’t forgotten the bad parts.” Then, the WWII Vet spoke about why he went to war. “I owed it to my country to do the best I can to protect them. That’s what I did.”
During his time in WWII, the Vet helped to liberate prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp in Lansberg am Lech, Bavaria, according to the Texas Liberators website. Womack said that when he arrived at the camp, most of the prisoners looked more like walking skeletons than human beings. They were so malnourished that eating American military rations killed them. The prisoners had eaten nothing but turnips and water for years. As a result, their bodies could no longer handle the protein and other nutrients in the soldiers’ food.
About going to the camp, Womack said, “They wanted us to see the atrocities that were committed…they wanted us to see why we were there, why we were fighting. But it was something I haven’t forgotten easily.”
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