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It was "the war to end all wars."

Russell Coffey believed that when he enlisted in October 1918. But now he knows better, to his sorrow. "It was the war that started it all," he said. "We haven't learned very much."

American soldiers have fought in five major wars since then, all of them tracing their roots to World War I.

Nearly every day Americans are mourning the loss of soldiers in Iraq. Coffey is still mourning the loss of the young men who died in World War I — 116,516 American soldiers and millions of Europeans. (France alone lost one in three of its young men between the ages of 13 and 30).

"Do you still feel sad about all the young men who lost their lives?" I asked him during a visit Wednesday at the Blakeley Care Center in North Baltimore, Ohio. His frail voice becomes emphatic. His clouded eyes become teary. "Oh yes," Coffey replied.

He looks considerably younger than his 108 years, and much of the time he is remarkably lucid. He drove until nearly 104, and lived on his own until two years ago. He is still a protective father to his 84-year-old daughter, Betty Jo Larsen, who lives nearby in North Baltimore. "He called me this week to remind me to do my taxes," Larsen said. "To him I am still 'daughter'; I am still his little girl."

He would rather talk about fishing at his cabin in Michigan or his years playing semi-pro baseball than the feat that has made him famous: Becoming one of the last three American veterans of the first world war.

"I don't know if I'm a celebrity," he said. "Oh no."

But I am in awe of him. My grandfather, Mathew Paul McCarty, was one of the doughboys. For my grandchildren they will be figures for the history books alone, as firmly a part of the past as our Civil War or Revolutionary War soldiers.

While life expectancy has increased dramatically in the past couple of centuries, the outer limits of longevity have changed little. The last Revolutionary War veteran, Daniel Bakeman, died at 109 in 1869, 85 years after the war ended. The last Civil War veteran, Confederate soldier John Salling, died at 112 in 1958, more than 92 years after the end of the war. The last Spanish-American War veteran, Nathan Cook, died at 106 in 1992, 93 years after the war ended.

Coffey remembers the day America entered the war — 90 years ago today — as vividly as today's teenagers remember 9/11. "I was standing there with my father and mother and brothers and watching all the civilians lining up to enlist," he recalled.

Larsen said that neither her father nor his two older brothers who served in France, Hobart and Harley, ever talked about their war experience. "We grew up in the age when you simply did not discuss that," she said. "You came home and got a job."

Coffey married his high school sweetheart, Bernice, in 1922. He earned a doctorate from New York University and taught physical education at Bowling Green State University from 1948 until 1969, attending faculty functions until recently. "He loved his work and his students," Larsen said. "And his feelings for my mother, that was adoration plus."

Bernice Coffey died nearly 20 years ago. Larsen is his only child; his only grandchild, Katrina, died from cancer at 48.

"He isn't lonely, heavens no," Larsen said. "Just the other day he had eight visitors. His students haven't forgotten him or what he did for them." Several former students have called since reading about him in USA Today or stories in the Associated Press. "Most of them didn't know he was still alive," said activities director Linda Newlon.

"What's the secret to your longevity?" I asked.

"Drink the right whiskey," he replied without missing a beat. Then he defends his honor: "I didn't really drink at all."

Until a year or so ago, Newlon said, Coffey could crack jokes like this all day, tell stories for hours. "It's a shame all the reporters didn't come then," she said.

These days he can be witty and alert one minute, while lapsing into his own world the next.

At times he looks straight ahead, responding to voices and to orders that nobody else can hear.

"To the left," he said. "Turn to the right."

At these moments it seems as if lost comrades stand beside him still.

The war that convulsed a century has not faded from human memory.

Not yet.

For a few more weeks, or months, or years, we can reach out, shake his hand, and touch our living history.

Know any other WWI veterans living?

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking public assistance in determining whether other World War I veterans are still alive. "These veterans have earned the gratitude and respect of the nation," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. "We are coming to the end of a generation that helped bring the United States to the center of the international arena."

The only known surviving soldiers who served with American forces are Russell Coffey of North Baltimore, Ohio; Frank Buckles, 106, of Charles Town, W.Va., and Harry Landis, 107, of Sun City Center, Fla.

Nicholson requested those who know of a surviving World War I veteran to contact the VA. To qualify as a World War I veteran, someone must have been on active duty between April 6, 1917 and Nov. 11, 1918. The VA is also looking for surviving Americans who served in the armed forces of allied nations. Information about survivors can be e-mailed to ww1@va.gov; faxed to 202-273-6702, or mailed to the Office of Public Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs (80), 810 Vermont Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20420.

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