Crystal Lake man, World War II veteran turns 100: ‘I’m one of the lucky ones’

Just days after celebrating his 100th birthday, Daniel Obriot of Crystal Lake, a World War II veteran, shared memories and said he is looking forward to his 101st birthday.

Obriot, who is a widower, is independent, still drives and spends his time reading history. His grandfather lived to 102, his mother to 98 and his brother, who was diabetic, reached the age of 96. With little more than a cane to keep steady, Obriot said he does not have any serious ailments. He offered no secret health tips explaining his longevity.

“I eat a lot of stuff that I shouldn’t,” he said. He quit smoking back in 1953 after seeing a report that cigarettes might lead to heart disease.

In his youth, Obriot recalled, he told his father that one day he would join the Navy. That happened on Dec. 10, 1942, when Obriot was 18, enlisting for six years. He remembered getting paid $21 a month, having three daily meals and housing. He also recalled not liking the hat he was required to wear as part of his uniform.

He’d decided to join after seeing the news at the movie theater – the only place he could watch the news in those days – about the Battle of Midway and, he said, “just wanting to get back at the Japanese.”

He spent 27 months in the South Pacific on the USS Feland transporting cargo, weapons and Marines to various islands. He also retrieved those troops after battles were fought. This task included bringing the many young, wounded and dead Marines home, he said. He got through the many atrocities experienced during war – witnessing the explosion of an aircraft carrier bombed and sinking, knowing hundreds of young men had died – by not thinking about it.

“All you are trying to do is help. I always tried to do my best. I never thought about myself,” Obriot said.

“We didn’t know if we were going to win it or lose it that first day,” said Obriot who lost many friends in the war, including two he’d enlisted with while high school seniors in Apollo, Pennsylvania.

“I am very proud to have served and I would serve again if I had to,” said Obriot, one of a dwindling number of World War II veterans alive to share stories of the time.

He also recalled training at Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County and “never being so cold in my whole life.” He reminisced about a time when he a friend in the barracks went to at the USO in Highland Park where he met teenaged Alice Giaimo. He accidentally hit a ball off the pool table that hit her and he had to go over and apologize. He loved her personality, adding that “she loved to dance, and I’ve got two left feet.”

They wed in 1946 and had been married nearly 70 years when she died in 2016. They raised a family, a daughter and son, and Obriot owned and operated Inman’s Paint Spot in Highland Park.

His daughter, Nanette Lamphere of Barrington, described her dad as “a real treasure.”

“I feel so blessed that he is still here,” Lamphere said. “I know my dad would do anything for me. I just think my dad is an amazing man. All of us should age as well as he has.”

Vince Campos, 61, of McHenry, contacted the Northwest Herald about Obriot’s centennial birthday. Campos is a longtime friend of Obriot’s son, Dan, and has known the family and heard the Obriot’s war stories for 40 years.

Campos said he finds Obriot and his stories “incredible,” the stories of “one of the greatest generations that protected this country. There are so few left.”

It’s important, Campos said, that younger generations hear Obriot’s stories because “this country has moved very far away from the values that we once held. The younger generation needs to know how these guys saved us from speaking German or Japanese. Everybody today takes for granted all the rights that they have. I just want the younger generation to realize that his generation is the one that saved us form being a communist or socialist country.”

Chaplain Ken Hauser of McHenry VFW Post 4600, where Obriot is a member, said he’s had many long talks with Obriot. They lost touch for a few years and reconnected this week. Hauser invited Obriot to spend the Fourth of July with him at the VFW.

“He is a super guy, we are going to have a lot to talk about,” said Hauser, a Vietnam veteran. “We have to take care of our veterans. A vet will share stories with me that they do not share with others who are not in military … and that’s what we talked about.”

Hauser said it is important that people listen to Obriot’s war stories while they are here. The numbers of World War II veterans, as well as veterans from the Korean War, are dwindling.

“It is extremely rare that we have him in our community,” he said.

In turning 100 on June 28, Obriot said he often looks at the obituaries, “and there is nobody I know in there. I’m lucky. I still have everything, beautiful condo, I keep it clean and I still drive. I’m one of the lucky ones.”