It is uncommon to meet a 100-year-old World War II veteran. But if and when you do, you might recognize common courage.

I found one in 2014 in a barber shop in Williamsburg. That veteran was Jack Ford and while he wasn’t 100 years old at the time, he is now. Ford will celebrate his 100th birthday on Friday.

In Jack Ford, I found common courage in an uncommon man.

He deserves all the cake and ice cream, all the hugs and kisses, and the applause, not only from his family, but from all of America. He stands still as a proud veteran of that Greatest Generation, whose stalwart men were afraid, yes, but determined and willing to stand up and charge ashore, to crawl through sand and dodge mortar rounds, to fling grenades into pile boxes, and when winter approached to wrap their boots with addi

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