RACING TO HONOR WORLD WAR I VETS.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

It's a race against time, this mission Bob Johnson's been on to find every last surviving World War I veteran to give them one last honor before they die.

Four million men served in WWI from 1914 to 1918; 2 million of them overseas in France.

Today, there are only a few hundred left - men like Pvt. Andrew Lee, 106, the son of a slave who enlisted in the Army near the end of the war, and tended to the horses and mules used to transport supplies to the troops.

A man whose sports heroes of the day were Satchel Paige, Babe Ruth and Joe Louis. A man who still thinks the best car ever built was a Packard, and the best president to serve in the White House was FDR.

Lee's living in the nursing home care unit at the West Los Angeles Veteran's Administration Medical Center, and today's his day.

An Army major general will pin a special World War I Commemorative Medal on Lee's chest, and thank him one more time for the service he performed for his country 85 years ago.

Bob Johnson will be there, scratching one more name off his list.

In the last two years, this retired Air Force Lt. colonel has located more than 50 surviving World War I vets all over the country, many of them forgotten and living alone in rest homes.

If they served overseas in France, Johnson makes sure the French government contacts them so they can be awarded France's highest honor, the Legion of Honor medal.

``In 1998, our government decided to honor every United States World War I veteran who fought on French soil, and without Bob Johnson's help we could not have done that,'' said Michel Charbonnier, deputy consul general for the French Counsulate in Los Angeles.

``On his own, he has gone out and found them for us, and we are very grateful to him,'' Charbonnier said.

And it's not only World War I vets who served in France, it's all World War I vets, like Pvt. Lee. Johnson wants to make sure they all get one last hurrah.

``He's an incredible man who does this out of the goodness of his heart because he cares so much for these men,'' said VA spokeswoman Marianne Davis.

``He doesn't want to let them slip away without the recognition they deserve.''

But time is the enemy here. They are slipping away.

Of the more than 50 World War I veterans Johnson has located around the country to receive special medals during the last two years, more than half have since passed away, he said.

He found them with not a lot of time to spare.

``There are so few men left that sometimes I'm afraid I just won't find them all before it's too late,'' Johnson said Wednesday.

So he keeps on looking, fulfilling a promise he made shortly after his next-door neighbor, Jack Kevany, died in 1995 at age 100.

``He was a member of the World War I Veterans of the United States organization, and one day back in 1990, right after I had retired from the Air Force, he invited me to one of their meetings,'' Johnson said.

``There were only about 10 or 15 vets coming to the local meetings at that time, and they made me an honorary member. Every year, though, it became less and less, as more men died off.

``A couple of years ago, the organization basically shut down because there were no more members able to make it to meetings,'' Johnson said. ``In Jack's memory, I've been trying to keep the legacy alive.''

So he combs through local newspapers from all over the country, looking for stories about surviving World War I vets, or he just hears about them through word of mouth.

If you have any leads on surviving World War I veterans, you can reach Johnson at [phone].

``I find the men hidden away in nursing homes, or in private homes where their families don't know about this recognition program, or just don't want to get involved.''

``The one thing that's surprised the heck out of me is that most of them are still able to remember those years. They may not remember yesterday, but they remember 1918.

``Like Pvt. Lee,'' he said, laughing. ``He was on an Exercycle the first time I went to see him, still in good shape at 106.''

Talking about watching Satchel Paige pitch and Babe Ruth hit.

Letting everyone within earshot know that there was never a better car built than a Packard or a better president than FDR.

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Photo:

Ret. Air Force Col. Bob Johnson, left, is on a mission to help surviving veterans of World War I like Andrew Lee receive one more thank you from a grateful world.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer