Henrico World War II veteran shares memories 80 years after war's end
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Eighty years ago this week marked the formal end to World War II when Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allies aboard a US battleship in Tokyo Bay.
Surviving veterans of that war are close to 100 years old or older.
One such veteran is Henrico's Bill Reeves, who told CBS 6's Bill Fitzgerald that he served on the USS Arlington, a transport ship based out of San Francisco.
Originally from Chattanooga, the 98-year-old Reeves says his family realized that when he turned 18 he would be drafted in 1944. He wanted to defend his country on a ship.
"My mother and dad let me join early because they knew I didn't want to go in the Army when I was 18 years old," said Reeves. "That's what would have happened. That's the reason I joined the Navy at 17."
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