Happy 105th!

The city's oldest veteran is celebrated, and dispenses some good advice.

Correction: At the end of my last story I said I was going on vacation and implied that I wouldn’t write another one until after the New Year. Obviously that was wrong.

On Christmas Day, at 6:03 p.m., I got an email about a birthday celebration for Louis Tanzer of Beverly. Mr. Tanzer turned 105 on Christmas Day, reason enough for a big bash. But he also happens to be the city’s oldest living veteran, maybe the state’s oldest living veteran. So I thought, time to put off vacation for one more day.

By the time I showed up at Mr. Tanzer’s home on Tyler Road this afternoon, it was already packed. There were TV cameras, newspaper photographers, city and state officials, friends and neighbors, and lots of family.

The guest of honor sat in a chair in his living room, looking slightly bemused by all the attention. A parade of officials took turns reading proclamations and citations and giving him commemorative coins. Through it all Mr. Tanzer was humble and gracious, not to mention hilarious.

When Andrea Gayle-Bennett, the deputy secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans’ Services, told him that she had a proclamation for him signed by the governor, Mr. Tanzer said, “Will that lower my taxes?” At another point, gazing around the crowded room, he said, “If you all want an autograph, get in line.”

“I often wondered what boot camp was all about,” he said, pausing with the timing of a good comedian. “I found out when I went and they booted me all around.”

You could tell he was touched by the whole thing. When people kept telling him it was an honor to meet him, he said, “It’s an honor for me to serve you people.”

The whole celebration came about when the Beverly Veterans Council was thinking up ways to honor veterans and decided to find out who was the city’s oldest veteran. A check of the U.S. Census and voter registration rolls led them to Louis Tanzer.

David and Bridget Ball, who volunteer for the Veterans Council, took it upon themselves to spread the word about the newly discovered oldest vet. David Ball said he sent messages to “everyone from Trump down,” asking people to send birthday cards or other forms of recognition.

In a matter of just a few weeks, about 1,000 birthday cards have poured in, from all over the country, many of them from schools. The New England Patriots sent an oversized birthday card signed by all the players and a Patriots jersey with the name “Tanzer” and the number “105” on the back. Patriots owner Robert Kraft called over Zoom to personally wish him a happy birthday.

Mr. Tanzer with his Patriots shirt and a birthday card signed by the players.

“I can’t believe it,” said Gail Torres, Louis’ daughter. “It sends chills down my spine. He keeps saying, ‘I don’t get it.’ I think it has something to do with World War II and the Greatest Generation. People are looking to them, saying ‘Tell me something.’”

Gail said her father grew up poor in Peabody. His parents divorced, his father died young, and his mother was completely deaf. Mr. Tanzer could have gotten a military deferment due to his situation, but he chose to enlist.

Mr. Tanzer worked in the leather factories in Peabody as a color chemist, bought his home on Tyler Road in the Cove section of Beverly in 1960, and raised two kids with his wife, Roslyn, who died in 2009. Like so many World War II veterans, he didn’t talk much about his experience in the war until his later years, his daughter said.

Mr. Tanzer served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1942 to 1945, working as a supply sergeant in the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing on ships that patrolled the Pacific. He told a story — a funny one, of course — about getting seasick on his first day and lying down on the ship’s deck.

Now, you can’t meet someone who has made it to 105 and not ask him about the keys to his longevity. Mr. Tanzer mentioned investing in a Roth IRA and taking care of your teeth.

One of the TV guys then asked him for some life advice for the rest of us.

“Peace,” Mr. Tanzer said. “Peace. A small word, but a large meaning. That’s what I would wish for this country.”

U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Louis Tanzer