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CITY AND ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA. AND THIS VETERAN’S DAY, WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL STORY ON A LOCAL WORLD WAR TWO VETERAN AS SHE REFLECTS BACK ON HER LIFE THAT SPANS MORE THAN A CENTURY. KCRA 3’S ERIN HEFT INTRODUCES US TO A NAVY VETERAN. HER NAME IS EVELYN DAHL. BRIGHT FLOWERS LINING THE PATH LEADING INSIDE TO THE CALIFORNIAN, A SMALL SENIOR CENTER TUCKED AWAY IN THE HEART OF WOODLAND, PUTTERING THROUGH THE HALLS. AT FIRST GLANCE, YOU MIGHT NOT THINK IT WOULD BE TOO TOUGH FILLING THESE SHOES, BUT THEY BELONG TO EVELYN DAHL, A TREASURE ALL HER OWN. JULY THE 18TH, 1921. I’M NOT THREE YEARS OLD. I’M 103. PIECING THROUGH PRICELESS MOMENTS OF HER AMERICAN HISTORY. ALL. OH, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKES. OH, I’VE LOOKED AT IT A LOT OF TIMES, AND I THOUGHT, I WISH YOU COULD TELL ALL THE PLACES YOU’VE BEEN. THIS HER MILITARY ISSUED LEATHER BAG EMBOSSED WITH HER MAIDEN NAME ISSUED TO DAHL AS SHE JOINED THE FIGHT AMID WORLD WAR TWO. IT’S BEEN ON THE TRAINS. I WENT ON LEAVE THAT ALONG WITH HER DOG TAGS. AUGUST THE NINTH, 1943. THAT WAS THE DAY I OFFICIALLY WENT INTO THE NAVY. A PHYSICAL THERAPIST TO THE MANY HURT WHILE OVERSEAS. HERE I AM WORKING ON A PATIENT. YOU JUST WANTED TO DO WHATEVER YOU COULD TO BE WHEREVER YOU COULD TO HELP IN WHATEVER WAY POSSIBLE. DAHL JOINING THE FIGHT AFTER THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR ALONGSIDE HER BROTHERS ALDEN, ELDON, GLENN AND EUGENE JEAN. WE CALLED HIM A SMALL TOWN GIRL FROM PRAIRIE FARM, WISCONSIN, TURNED POWERFUL MILITARY WAVE OF THE 1940S WAVED WOMEN ARE ACCEPTED FOR VOLUNTARY EMERGENCY SERVICE, AND WE WERE PART OF THE NAVY SERVING THE INJURED SHIPPED BACK TO CALIFORNIA. THIS WAS AT EL TORO MARINE CORPS BASE. I THINK I AM. WHERE AM I? RIGHT HERE. SNAPSHOTS OF THE COUNTLESS FRIENDSHIPS MADE HELD DEAR TO THIS VERY DAY, CHERISHED BY DAHL. VETERANS DAY, A MOMENT TO SHARE THE LESSONS GAINED FROM THE PAST. SO MANY PEOPLE THAT WHOSE LIVES WERE SO SERIOUSLY AFFECTED BY ANY OF THE WARS. ALL OF THE WARS. WAR IS A NASTY THING. IT’S IT’S ESSENTIAL. I KNOW IN SOME AND THERE ARE TIMES, BUT WE HAVE TO PROTECT OURSELVES. I KNOW THAT, BUT BY THE SAME TOKEN, THERE ARE NEVER ANY WINNERS. THERE ARE NEVER ANY WINNERS BORN AMONG WHAT’S KNOWN AS THE GREATEST GENERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY OF MEN AND WOMEN PERSEVERING THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION, THEN COMING OF AGE TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. SO MANY CHANGES, SOME FOR THE BETTER. BUT I REALLY THINK I GREW UP IN A BETTER TIME. ANY OF YOU FROM ANOTHER GENERATION WOULD PROBABLY ALSO THINK THE SAME. THAT THAT THE TIME YOU GREW UP WAS PROBABLY THE BEST TIME OVER A CENTURY OF AMERICAN HISTORY OF LIFE AND OF EVELYN IN WOODLAND, CALIFORNIA, ERIN HEFT KCRA THREE NEWS. WHAT A LIFE. WELL, AFTER LEAVING THE MILITARY, EVELYN DAHL MET HER HUSBAND OF 54 YEARS IN WOODLAND. THEY HAVE TWO DAUGHTERS AND FIVE GRANDKIDS. THEY’VE GOT TEN GREAT GRANDKIDS AND HER FIRST GREAT, GREAT GRANDBABY IS ON THE WAY DUE THIS COMING JANUARY. WE SAY THA