T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY WWII veterans and IVH residents Vaughn Hauser (U.S. Army), left, and Ralph Alshouse (U.S. Navy), right, served as the grand marshals of Friday morning’s Red, White and Blue parade in Marshalltown.

Remaining members of the so-called “Greatest Generation,” who helped the Allied Powers win a decisive victory in perhaps the most consequential armed conflict in modern world history, are few and far between. But two of them who reside at the Iowa Veterans Home were prominently featured during Friday morning’s Red, White and Blue parade as 99-year-old Vaughn Hauser and 101-year-old Ralph Alshouse were chosen to serve as grand marshals.

Hauser, who served in the U.S. Army and hails from Urbana, is known on the IVH campus as “the drummer” and was the subject of a KCCI story about his musical prowess last December, while Alshouse, although he served stateside, had one of the most dangerous jobs as a Navy ferry pilot delivering aircraft and made 13 forced landings. The Fayette County native recently completed and published a memoir titled “80 Percent Luck, 20 Percent Skill: My Life as a WWII Navy Ferry Pilot.”

Vaughn’s son Greg Hauser followed in his father’s footsteps by serving in the military but chose a different branch, working on submarines in the Navy.

“It was kind of a family thing, but my dad and my uncles were all in the Army. He kind of instilled that in us to be proud of our country,” Greg said after the parade on Friday.

Alshouse’s daughter Cathy Wilson added that military service in their family goes back to before the Revolutionary War.

“Every single skirmish, they’ve been in, so we heard that a lot growing up. And two of my brothers were both Marines, so it’s a thing,” she said. “My son and another nephew were Air Force, so you pretty much get out of high school, serve and then get on with your life.”

The two veterans garnered raucous applause as they made their way along the parade route Friday, and the Red, White and Blue committee will be hard pressed to find future grand marshals who better embody the spirit of the celebration than Ralph Alshouse and Vaughn Hauser.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.