This week, the country pauses for Veterans Day. Maybe you are thinking of a father in uniform, an uncle who kept his stories to himself, or your own years of service.
In Madison, Wisconsin, one veteran marked the week the way she marks nearly every week. She showed up for other veterans.
Mae Bryant turns 103 this week. She volunteers every Monday morning at the VA Hospital in Madison, and her birthday week was no different. Fellow volunteers and patients celebrated her at the hospital, WMTV in Madison reported.
Asked what comes next, she said this:
“I wish I knew. Well, I’m going to keep coming as long as they’ll let me.”
From Lake Mills to Germany
Bryant is a Lake Mills native. Her father was an engineer and a World War I veteran. She earned a degree in physical education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then joined the Women’s Army Corps.
Her job was physical therapy for soldiers. Her first stop was a training center in Des Moines, Iowa. Next came San Antonio.
“A group of us girls visited the Alamo on our first day. It was so different from anything I had seen before,” she told the Lake Mills Leader in 2023.
Postings in Indianapolis and on the East Coast followed. “I wanted to help them get back on their feet,” she said of the soldiers she treated.
In 1948, the Army sent her to a military hospital in Germany. The war was over, and Europe was rebuilding. She stayed until 1951, and on her time off she saw Switzerland, France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
“I think we were peacemakers really,” she said.
A Long-Awaited Trip to Washington
In 2024, Bryant was one of 85 veterans on a Badger Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. She was the only woman veteran on the trip. It was her first visit since 1951, before the war memorials existed.
At the World War II Memorial, a group of students cheered as she made her way to the Wisconsin pillar.
“I’ve shaken more hands than I’ve ever shaken in my whole life,” she said.
When the flight came home, crowds were waiting at the Dane County Regional Airport terminal. She hugged her fellow VA volunteers there.
Why Does She Keep Coming Back?
At Trinity Pines, where she lives, Bryant delivers newspapers to her neighbors every morning at 5:30. She knits. She socializes. And on Mondays, she volunteers at the VA.
There is a social circle at home, too. “We have a club here, Club 90, for everyone who’s 90 years and older,” she said.
Her advice for the rest of us is short. “Stay active, stay healthy, and get your sleep in. And if you don’t use it, you lose it,” she said.
Last year, volunteers surprised her with a party for her 102nd birthday. She did not think she had earned it.
“I don’t feel like I deserve anything like that, I’m just an ordinary person,” she said.
She had a question, too. “What have I done to deserve a party? Besides living a long time.”
Her reason for volunteering is simple. “It’s a way of saying thank you to all those guys and gals.”
If someone you love served, your thank-you does not have to wait for a parade. Mae Bryant has been saying hers on Monday mornings for about 25 years.
