10 Last Survivors Of Major Historical Events

by Mohandas Alva2 years ago

6 Edwin Buzz Aldrin

Edwin Buzz Aldrin is the last surviving crew member of the iconic Apollo 11 mission that was responsible for landing the first person to the moon on 20 July 1969. The Apollo 11 mission was a crucial game-changer in the space and Moon race that took place between the USA and USSR. 

Edwin Buzz Aldrin
Image Credit: Debby Wong/Shutterstock.com

Edwin Buzz Aldrin was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. on 20 January 1930. Besides being an astronaut, he was also a fighter pilot and an engineer. He is also credited with three spacewalks including the 1966 Gemini 12 mission.

He was the second person to land on the Moon after Apollo 11’s mission commander, Neil Armstrong. Other than being the only surviving member of the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin is also the oldest surviving member to ever walk on the Moon.

Most recently, one of Aldrin’s crewmates, Michael Collins, died at the age of 90 on 28 April 2021 (1, 2, 3)

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7 Rebecca Tickaneesky Neugin 

Rebecca Tickaneesky Neugin was the last survivor of the “Trail of Tears,” a forced relocation program of the Indians in America until 15 July 1932, when she died at around the age of 97.

Rebecca Tickaneesky Neugin
Image Credit: Duane Poncy/ Family photo archive, Helen Thompson via wikitree.com

The “Trail of Tears” was a brutally designed relocation program under the Indian Removal Act which forced the indigenous Indians out of their habitat. Several of the Indians suffered from severe problems including diseases and starvation.

Some parts of this rapid relocation including the Cherokee Removal of 1838 were also fueled by the Georgia gold rush as several tribes that resided near Georgia were forced to go to places west of the Mississippi River.

Rebecca was three years old when this incident took place and had recalled during a later interview as having about nine siblings at the time of this incident. She gave testimony against the perpetrators of this heinous crime. (1, 2, 3)

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8 William Del Monte

William Del Monte is the last known survivor of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. The San Francisco Earthquake and the subsequent fires that erupted as a result of it is considered one of the worst earthquakes in the history of the United States, and over 3,000 people died in this incident.

William Del Monte
Image Credit: Mike Koozmin/ 2011 S.F. Examiner via sfexaminer.com

William Del Monte was born on 22 January 1906 and was three months old when the disaster occurred. His family had to flee to the streets and then escape on a horse-drawn buckboard amidst the ensuing raging fire on both sides of the road. They crossed the Bay of Alameda County and returned to San Francisco only after their place was reconstructed.

At the age of 23, he made a name for himself in the stock market, making more than a million dollars. He eventually lost the money but went on to elope and get married to Vera Minetti.

He passed away on 11 January 2016, just 11 days before his 110th birthday. He was the oldest living survivor of the San Francisco Earthquake after Ruth Newman, another survivor, died at the age of 113, a year before him. (1, 2, 3)

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9 George Robert Twelves Hewes

George Robert Twelves Hewes was the last survivor of the Boston Massacre which occurred on 5 March 1770. He was also one of the last surviving members of the Boston Tea Party and fought in the American Revolutionary War as a privateer and militiaman.

George Robert Twelves Hewes
George Robert Twelves Hewes (Image to the left), The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770, illustration from Leslie’s Monthly, 1880. Image Credit: Joseph G. Cole/Bostonian Society, Old State House, Boston via Wikimedia.org, Shutterstock.com

George Hewes was born on 25 August 1742 in Boston, Massachusetts, which was then a part of British America. He was present during the Boston Massacre where British soldiers shot and killed several people in Boston.

Hewes was a part of the crowd that supported the Boston protesters and suffered an injury in the shoulder from the rifle of a British private named Kilroy. Hewes also had another confrontation with two British soldiers on his way home that day according to his biography.

George survived the massacre and eventually got married to Sally Hewes, and they had 15 children of which jonly11 survived post-birth. He also worked as a shoemaker and continued his occupation well into his old age. Hewes and his wife later moved to Richfield Springs, Otsego County, New York. (1, 2, 3)

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10 Walter Walsh

Walter Rudolph Walsh was the last surviving member of the FBI teams that captured Arthur Barker and killed Al Brady. He was also a decorated FBI agent, an Olympic shooter, and a USMC shooting instructor. He lived until 2014 and died on 29 April 2014 at the age of 106.

Walter Walsh
Walter Walsh attends the 100th-anniversary celebration of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Image to the left), Walter R. Walsh in 1939. Image Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation/wikimedia.org, American Rifleman Magazine/nytimes.com

Walter Walsh was a major part of the FBI team that captured Arthur Barker, a most-wanted criminal, and son of gangster “Ma Barker.” He was also involved in the operation of tracking of Public Enemy Number One, Al Brady, a notorious armed robber, and murderer.

Walter Walsh worked undercover for several days as a store clerk in a sporting goods store in Bangor, Maine. The FBI team was eventually successful in luring in Al Brady, ambushing him, and eventually ended up shooting and killing him.

In the ensuing gunfight, Walsh took five bullets but still returned to work within a few days after treatment. He later joined the Olympics shooting team and also went on to become the longest-lived Olympic competitor in March 2015 at the age of 105. (1, 2, 3)

Also Read:
10 of the Most Weirdly Entertaining Historical Facts

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