COMPTON, Calif. – In the week before the 4th of July holiday period, representatives of branches of the armed forces, all active in military commemorative parachuting, joined to pay tribute to one of the surviving paratroopers of World War II.

On June 29, in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton, brothers and sisters in the American military family traveled from across the United States and as far as Hawaii to honor one of our remaining living representatives of what has been rightly called the “Greatest Generation.”

“It was a day to remember as we gathered to honor a national treasure, Sgt. Joe Harris on his 108th birthday,” said Jordan Bednarz, an Army paratrooper veteran and member of the 82nd Airborne Division Association.

“The love and dedication shown by the Harris family and Compton community are second to none,” said Bednarz.

The U.S. armed forces have been a force of mixed race and origin since the founding, but it took President Harry Truman’s executive order in 1947 to desegregate the U.S. military. Ending Jim Crow era segregation made our military better and stronger, but troops of all colors and origins always served in spite of prejudices they endured.

Traveling to honor Harris were Donald Garrison, of the Triple Nickle Association, and joining Bednarz, were Chris Amador, Enrico Catubo and Dale Lindley of Liberty Jump Team, and Tracie Hunter of the Beyond The Call non-profit. All service branches were represented.

Most people have heard of the Tuskegee Airmen, the black fighter pilots who distinguished themselves during World War II in the fight to beat Hitler and vanquish Nazism and fascism, but the “Triple Nickles” were less known until recently.

In the Antelope Valley, Palmdale Deputy Raymundo Wilson is son of Tuskegee “Red Tail” pilot Mike Wilson, who got credit for teaming to shoot down a Nazi Me-262 fighter jet in the closing months of World War II.

With almost all World War II veterans having died, it falls to descendants and torchbearers to keep the history alive, like national membership of the 555th Parachute Infantry Association.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, fewer than 100,000 are alive today, according to Department of Veterans Affairs records.

Jonathan Vann, 40, an Army captain who jumped in honor of the Triple Nickles earlier this year at their wartime base in Pendleton, Ore., said, “I study my history, and these were the men who inspired me, who made me aware that I could do anything.”

In Compton, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies blocked off streets in honor of Sgt. Joe Harris, who turned 108 under sunny skies. Beneath a pavilion tent, family, troopers and friends presented the gallant gentleman with a unit flag, a spectacular cake, and all the accolades earned but seldom given during wartime service.

“The most important things we do … will never involve a jump,” said Bednarz, who organized tributes to the 555th paratroopers.

It is hard to glean what clean living accounts for such longevity, but “Daddy Joe” was present and accounted for. Military brothers and sisters flew in to honor his service with the 555th Parachute Infantry.

Among the honors, a personal letter signed by Maj. Gen. James “Pat” Work, Commanding Officer of the 82nd Airborne Division.

The letter read: “Mr. Joe Harris, Paratrooper, Happy 108th Birthday. We hope it is wonderful. The 82nd Airborne Division still stands on your ‘Triple Nickle’ shoulders immensely proud of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. God Bless you. All the Way, All American Six Commanding.”

During WWII, Joe Harris and 555th paratroopers jumped into fire to prove their bravery and ability during the closing stages of history’s greatest conflict.  At his great age, he is believed to be the unit’s surviving member.

“As an American I am very proud of Joe Harris. At 108 years old he may as well be 18 as he still represents our community,” said Omar Bradley, a former Compton mayor.

The WWII veteran worked many years for the U.S. Border Patrol and has lived in Compton for 60 years, family members said.

Harris made dozens of jumps into rugged terrain, rocky gorges and forested areas that were burning, some of the fires ignited by a Japanese secret weapon, the incendiary “balloon bomb,” that drifted to American shores on the jet stream.

Together, the “Triple Nickle” paratroopers size up as the most courageous unit that never got to fight in Europe and the Pacific. Organized too tardily for overseas combat, they deployed to Pendleton, Oregon.

Sgt. Harris and his brother pioneer “smoke jumpers” jumped into forest fires, putting out blazes, some ignited by Japanese incendiary “balloon bombs” launched at the West Coast.

Fearing civilian panic, the Japanese balloon offensive was a closely guarded secret, and so was the service of the “Triple Nickle.”

Before they disbanded, Gen. James Gavin, hero of D-Day, welcomed the unit into the 82nd Airborne Division and took a position of principle that the “Triple Nickles” would march with the division in a World War II Victory Parade.