COLUMBIA — Larry Pressley, who will turn 99 in September, is a man of habit.
He eats the same thing around the same time for breakfast each morning — a bagel and an egg. That’s followed by a half-mile walk near his home in northeast Columbia, then a post-exercise snack of oatmeal topped with raisins and honey.
Up until around 10 years ago, pushups were also a part of his daily routine. And by his family’s own admission, Pressley is stubborn to a T.
All of these routines have helped him stay fit, family members say, and live long enough to be in an increasingly exclusive category: living World War II veterans.
Pressley joined the Marines in 1944 at the age of 17, and the following year he was sent to fight in the Battle of Okinawa. After surviving what would become the bloodiest battle of the Pacific Theater for U.S. forces, Pressley prepared for what was expected to be an even more dangerous mission: the invasion of mainland Japan.
But that invasion never came. In early August 1945, two U.S. B-29 bombers dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Less than two weeks later, Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan.
The bombings caused massive devastation and hundreds of thousands of deaths. With the war over, Pressley was deployed to Nagasaki with a group of Marines to occupy the city.
According to the Atomic Heritage Foundation, most servicemen weren’t aware of the dangers of radiation exposure.
The Marines shipped fresh water to Nagasaki for drinking and cooking, but the water used to shower at the Japanese barracks where Pressley was stationed came from a local reservoir.
It was so cold that Pressley “took 30-second showers,” said his daughter, Martha Pressley-Turner.
She believes that may have spared him from an early death. “A lot of the Marines died of cancer,” Pressley-Turner said.
Settling back into society
In the 1980s, some of the surviving “atomic veterans” began speaking publicly about their experiences in post-war Japan and the health impacts from exposure to radiation.
Decades later, in 2022, the Defense Department established the Atomic Veterans Commemorative Service Medal to recognize the service and sacrifice of these veterans. Pressley never suffered any ill effects from his time in Nagasaki, but he did come home with a piece of shrapnel lodged in his thumb that would give him fits later in life.
Pressley would go on to also serve in the Korean War. After his military career ended, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he enrolled in a baking school, met his wife Patricia and started a family. He taught cooking classes and later owned his own bakery.
Patricia died in 1998, and Pressley later remarried a friend. After she passed away, Pressley decided that it was time to live close to his daughter in Columbia. The two live about a half-mile away from each other.
‘Proof of healing on both sides’
For many years, Pressley organized reunions with Marines he fought alongside. Now that most are gone, those gatherings have ended. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, just over 66,000 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II were still alive as of 2024.
Pressley will turn 99 on Sept. 12, but before his birthday he’s got something else to look forward to: the debut of the PBS documentary “Atomic Echoes: Untold Stories of World War II.” Pressley was one of three atomic veterans interviewed for the documentary, which was produced by authors Karin Tanabe and Victoria Kelly.
The producers’ families were on opposite sides of the war — Tanabe’s hailing from Japan and Kelly’s the U.S. The two friends traveled the world to speak with survivors from the war, and last May they came to Columbia to spend a day with Pressley.
What stood out about him during the interview was his capacity for forgiveness, said Kelly, whose grandfather Carmine Gerardi served as a medic in the Navy during World War II. He was also sent to Nagasaki after the bombs were dropped.
Haunted by his experiences, Gerardi suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism until his death at the age of 42.
Pressley “was the proof of healing on both sides from World War II,” Kelly said.
Their documentary will air on public television stations nationwide beginning Aug. 1 and stream on PBS platforms.
‘A great neighbor’
On Aug. 6 and 9, the world will mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To honor Pressley for his service in Japan, he was recently awarded the Atomic Veterans Commemorative Service Medal in a surprise ceremony at the Richland County Wellness Center.
More than 50 people — including friends, family members and fellow Marines — attended the short ceremony on July 23.
After Pressley was presented with the medal, he sat in the front of the room as a long line formed of people waiting to shake his hand. Many, like longtime neighbor Pat Hosely, thanked him for his service.
“Most of all,” she told Pressley, “thank you for being a great neighbor.”
As the room emptied out, Martha Pressley-Turner joined her father and held his hand as they did a last round of interviews with local TV stations.
After the camera lights shut off, Pressley-Turner turned to her father, who was dressed in black slacks and a yellow dress shirt, and told him he looked handsome.
“I didn’t want to dress up,” he replied.
“God bless you for your stubbornness, Daddy,” she said.
