‘I’d do it all over again.’ Kentucky World War II veteran celebrates 107th birthday
.JPG "Vincent Hacker, left, and Fatima Hacker Brown celebrated with their father, Oakley Hacker, and Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, right, on Oakley Hacker’s 107th birthday.")
Oakley Hacker, who is thought to be Kentucky’s oldest living World War II veteran, celebrated his 107th birthday this week and was honored by the state Senate.
“I was proud to serve in our Navy, as did every other able-bodied man at the time,” Hacker said in a news release. “Even though war is a horrible experience no matter whose side you’re on, I felt I had a duty to defend this country and my family. I’d do it all over again.”
Hacker was born in the Bernice community in Clay County. During the war, he was a gunner’s mate second class who worked as an armed guard aboard the SS Oliver Wolcott. During the D-Day invasion, he provided gunnery support to the Allied troops landing on the beaches of Normandy, according to a news release from the Kentucky Senate Majority Caucus, which honored Hacker Monday.
He later married the late Nella Mae Hacker, raised four children, worked for the state and owned a used car lot, the release stated.
Hacker’s daughter Fatima Hacker Brown said her dad is “just a straight up kind of guy. ...He’s always been a what you see is what you get.”
She said he continued to work until he was 92 and lived at home until he was 103 years old, when he independently decided to move to the Paul E. Patton Eastern Kentucky Veterans Center in Hazard.
He initially planned to stay the winter “just to give us a rest,” she said. “He went and he really liked it. ... He said, ‘I’m staying.’
“Whatever he says, we do,” she said.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, delivered a special Senate resolution to Hacker in honor of his birthday Monday.
“It’s a privilege to meet a member of the Greatest Generation and celebrate his unique contributions to this country and the world,” Stivers said in the release. “It warms my heart to honor someone who faithfully served in one of our nation’s bloodiest wars, returned to our beautiful commonwealth and continued making contributions to the community while he raised his family.”
“Daddy was just so pleased with it,” Brown said in a phone interview. “We’re very proud of him. He’s an ordinary person, and they did extraordinary things, the Greatest Generation.”
“We’re just so blessed to have him still,” she said. “He’s just a blessing to us and to everybody.”
She said he enjoys life at the veterans center.
“There’s always something to do and people to talk to,” Brown said.
And they enjoy him, too.
The center shared a Facebook post honoring Hacker’s birthday Monday, saying “Oak is a joy every day. We feel honored to celebrate his birthday and look forward to many more birthday celebrations with him.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2023 at 8:46 PM.
