PARIS (AP) — D-Day veteran ″Papa Jake″ Larson, who survived German gunfire on Normandy's bluffs in 1944 and then garnered 1.2 million followers on TikTok late in life by sharing stories to commemorate World War II and his fallen comrades, has died at 102.
An animated speaker who charmed strangers young and old with his quick smile and generous hugs, the self-described country boy from Minnesota was ‘’cracking jokes til the end,'' his granddaughter wrote in announcing his death.
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FILE - D-Day veteran Jake Larson, a 102-year-old who is also a star on TikTok, with 1.2 million followers, greets schoolchildren during a visit on June 2, 2025 in Colleville-sur-Mer, to the Normandy American Cemetery that is the final resting place for nearly 9,400 American war dead and which overlooks Omaha beach, one of the D-D-day invasion zones on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo/John Leicester, File)
FILE - World War II veteran Jake Larson meets youths during ceremonies at the US cemetery to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings, on June 6, 2025 in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
FILE - In this photo taken April 29, 2019, D-Day veteran Jake Larson walks to a seat before going for a ride in the "The Spirit of Benovia" WWII-era aircraft in Oakland, Calif. Both Larson and the former C-53 Skytrooper transport plane plan to be in Normandy, France and take part in events for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, file)
FILE - In this photo taken April 29, 2019, D-Day veteran Jake Larson poses before going for a ride in the "The Spirit of Benovia" World War II-era aircraft in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, file)
FILE - U.S. veteran SSgt. Jake M. Larson talks to a girl who wears an American flag around her neck during a gathering in preparation of the 79th D-Day anniversary in La Fiere, Normandy, France, June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, file)
FILE - In this photo taken April 29, 2019, D-Day veteran Jake Larson watches as the "The Spirit of Benovia" WWII-era aircraft lands in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, file)
FILE - D-Day veteran Jake Larson, a 102-year-old who is also a star on TikTok, with 1.2 million followers, greets schoolchildren during a visit on June 2, 2025 in Colleville-sur-Mer, to the Normandy American Cemetery that is the final resting place for nearly 9,400 American war dead and which overlooks Omaha beach, one of the D-D-day invasion zones on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo/John Leicester, File)
FILE - World War II veteran Jake Larson meets youths during ceremonies at the US cemetery to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings, on June 6, 2025 in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
Tributes to him quickly filled his “Story Time with Papa Jake" TikTok account from across the United States, where he had been living in Lafayette, California. Towns around Normandy, still grateful to Allied forces who helped defeat the occupying Nazis in World War II, paid him homage too.
"Our beloved Papa Jake has passed away on July 17th at 102 years young," granddaughter McKaela Larson posted on his social media accounts. “He went peacefully.”
“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 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 nearly 160,000 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.
“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.
“We are their family. We have the responsibility to honor these guys who gave us a chance to be alive.”
He went on to fight through the Battle of the Bulge, a grueling month-long fight in Belgium and Luxembourg that was one of the defining moments of the war and of Hitler's defeat. His service earned him a Bronze Star and a French Legion of Honor award.
In recent years, Larson made repeated trips to Normandy for D-Day commemorations — and at every stop, “Papa Jake” was greeted by people asking for a selfie. In return, he offered up a big hug, to their greatest joy.
One memorable encounter came in 2023, when he came across Bill Gladden, a then-99-year-old British veteran who survived a glider landing on D-Day and a bullet that tore through his ankle.
“I want to give you a hug, thank you. I got tears in my eyes. We were meant to meet,” Larson told Gladden, as their hands, lined and spotted with age, clasped tightly. Gladden died the following year.
In his TikTok posts and interviews, Larson combined humorous anecdotes with somber reminders about the horrors of war.
Reflecting to AP on the three years he was in Europe, Larson said he is “no hero.” Speaking in 2024, he also had a message to world leaders: “Make peace not war.”
He often called himself “the luckiest man in the world,” and expressed awe at all the attention he was getting. “I’m just a country boy. Now I’m a star on TikTok,” he told AP in 2023. "I’m a legend! I didn’t plan this, it came about.”
Small-town museums and groups around Normandy that work to honor D-Day's heroes and fallen shared tributes online to Larson, one of their most loyal visitors.
“He was an exceptional witness and bearer of memory,” the Overlord Museum posted on Facebook.
“He came every year to the museum, with his smile, his humility and his tales that touched all generations. His stories will continue to live. Rest in peace Papa Jake,” it read.
“Thanks for everything.”
FILE - D-Day veteran Jake Larson, a 102-year-old who is also a star on TikTok, with 1.2 million followers, greets schoolchildren during a visit on June 2, 2025 in Colleville-sur-Mer, to the Normandy American Cemetery that is the final resting place for nearly 9,400 American war dead and which overlooks Omaha beach, one of the D-D-day invasion zones on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo/John Leicester, File)
FILE - World War II veteran Jake Larson meets youths during ceremonies at the US cemetery to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings, on June 6, 2025 in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
FILE - In this photo taken April 29, 2019, D-Day veteran Jake Larson walks to a seat before going for a ride in the "The Spirit of Benovia" WWII-era aircraft in Oakland, Calif. Both Larson and the former C-53 Skytrooper transport plane plan to be in Normandy, France and take part in events for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, file)
FILE - In this photo taken April 29, 2019, D-Day veteran Jake Larson poses before going for a ride in the "The Spirit of Benovia" World War II-era aircraft in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, file)
FILE - U.S. veteran SSgt. Jake M. Larson talks to a girl who wears an American flag around her neck during a gathering in preparation of the 79th D-Day anniversary in La Fiere, Normandy, France, June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, file)
FILE - In this photo taken April 29, 2019, D-Day veteran Jake Larson watches as the "The Spirit of Benovia" WWII-era aircraft lands in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, file)
FILE - D-Day veteran Jake Larson, a 102-year-old who is also a star on TikTok, with 1.2 million followers, greets schoolchildren during a visit on June 2, 2025 in Colleville-sur-Mer, to the Normandy American Cemetery that is the final resting place for nearly 9,400 American war dead and which overlooks Omaha beach, one of the D-D-day invasion zones on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo/John Leicester, File)
FILE - World War II veteran Jake Larson meets youths during ceremonies at the US cemetery to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings, on June 6, 2025 in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
