Houston VA celebrates birthdays of three World War II Veterans

Three World War II Veterans over the age of 100 were recently honored for their military service at a special birthday celebration organized by staff of the Beaumont VA Outpatient Clinic.

Army Veteran Louis Scott turned 102 in September 2023, while Army Veteran Ivory Joubert and Air Force Veteran Sam Daleo both turned 100 this past August.

They are pictured above left to right: Sam Daleo (100), Ivory Joubert (100) and Louis Scott (102).

Scott, a longtime VA patient who served as a cook in the Army, said he was very grateful for the celebration and joined in singing happy birthday to the other two Veterans. “I’ve been around a long time. I remember when gas was 15 cents a gallon,” he said.

Lindsey Crain, deputy medical center director of Michael E. DeBakey VA in Houston, spoke at the celebration. “At VA, it is our honor and privilege to care for these three World War II heroes. We couldn’t be more proud to participate in their milestone birthday celebrations and thank them for their service,” Crain said.

Four generations of the Joubert family attended the celebration honoring their loved one with special T-shirts and lots of hugs. “Ivory hurt his back in the military, but once he got that taken care of, his mother always said he would live to be 100, and she was right,” said Joubert’s family member Beverly Lee.      

Representatives from the City of Beaumont and local VFW and American Legion posts were also at the celebration to give special recognition to the Veterans.

“Each of them is incredibly special.”

Social worker Myia Barton said she organized the party to do something special for this group of Veterans. “It was great to see so many members of the southeast Texas community come out and celebrate these Veterans. Each of them is incredibly special, and seeing their faces light up made my day,” Barton said.

With more than 300 years of wisdom and memories between them, the three centenarians were happy to share some special words of advice on hitting the century mark.

Daleo, a staff sergeant in the Air Force more than 75 years ago, credits being inherently kind to others and eating clean as important to his long-term health. “If you treat others with kindness and respect, they will treat you the same. We will all live longer that way,” Daleo said.

“I don’t sweat the small stuff and I do unto others. I also don’t smoke and only drink top-shelf,” Scott said. “Every little bit helps.”