D-Day veteran and TikTok star 'Papa Jake' Larson dies at 102
[July 21, 2025]
By ANGELA CHARLTON
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.
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.
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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)
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.”
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