PARIS — D-Day veteran Papa Jake Larson, famous for surviving German gunfire on Normandy’s bluffs in 1944 and gaining 1.2 million TikTok followers by recounting World War II tales, has died at 102.
Tributes to “Story Time with Papa Jake” flooded in from followers across the U.S., where he resided in Lafayette, CA., and from Normandy towns still thankful to Allied forces for defeating the Nazis.
“Our beloved Papa Jake passed away on July 17th at 102 years young,” his granddaughter McKaela Larson shared on his social media. “He went peacefully, still cracking jokes until the end.”
“As Papa would say, love you all the mostest,” she wrote.
Born Dec. 20, 1922, in Owatonna, Minnesota, Larson enlisted in the National Guard in 1938, lying about his age since he was only 15 at the time. In January 1942, he was sent overseas and was stationed in Northern Ireland. He became operations sergeant and assembled the planning books for the invasion of Normandy.
He was among the Allied troops who stormed the Normandy shore on D-Day, June 6, 1944, surviving machine-gun fire when he landed on Omaha Beach. He made it unhurt to the bluffs that overlook the beach, then studded with German gun emplacements that mowed down American soldiers.
After D-Day, he fought on through the Battle of the Bulge. In recent years, he made repeated trips to Normandy for D-Day commemorations.
“We are the lucky ones,” Larson told The Associated Press at the 81st anniversary of D-Day in June, speaking amid the immaculate rows of graves at the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach.
“They had no family. We are their family. We have the responsibility to honor these guys who gave us a chance to be alive.”
Copyright © 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
