99-year-old WWII Veteran shares his past through photos on Veterans Day

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Russell Brehm fought in two wars before the United States began celebrating Veterans Day as we now know it in 1954. He did tours in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Monday, he shared what he's learned with KRDO 13 through the lens of a 70-year-old 35-millimeter camera, going through old photos and memories.

"It all comes down to honestly," Brehm said. "If a person, if what he does is right, then there won't be a problem."

For Veterans Day, Russell wanted to celebrate his wife, Margarete, who he met while deployed in Vienna, Austria during WWII.

"People talk about love, and obviously, we had a bond for 74 years."

After 74 years of marriage, Margarete died last December. She was 95 years old.

"How important was she to you?" I asked Russell.

"More than I realized," he said. "We were broken up several times by shipments overseas. So she had to put up with that, and she still stood by me."

Russell said he hopes to make a difference in how military spouses are celebrated.

"We pay recognition to the actual casualties, but we don't think about their next of kin," Russell said. "I thought to myself, no one ever really went out to talk to the wives of the fallen soldier. Based on my experience with my own wife, I think that would have been something nice."

The Inn at Garden Plaza retirement home honored Russell and all its veteran residents with a Veterans Day ceremony Monday morning.