{"id":257025,"date":"2026-05-03T22:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/257025\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T22:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:04:09","slug":"south-florida-world-war-ii-veteran-honored-on-104th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/257025\/","title":{"rendered":"South Florida World War II veteran honored on 104th birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text text--small text--normal text--primary\">Published:\u00a0May 3, 2026 at 5:31 PM<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  \u2014 A red carpet celebration was held for World War II veteran Harold Sotzsky, who turned 104 years old on Sunday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cHarold is an Amazing person with a life filled with so many experiences and love,\u201d said granddaughter Arlene Bowen. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Born in Washington D.C. in 1922 as one of seven kids, Sotzsky eventually enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and served during World War II. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI was lucky to come home,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t say enough about the veterans and all they do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Stozsky served from 1942 to 1945, helping to transport troops and wounded civilians. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Two days after returning home from the war, he tied the knot with his wife Doris. The pair would be married for over 50 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThey were inseparable and knew each other so well,\u201d said Bowen. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Ryan Paton of Honor Flight South Florida helped to organize the birthday bash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe World War II guys are extra special to us,\u201d said Paton. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He invited everyone from the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders to Stanley C. Panther, who brought Sotzsky a one-of-a-kind jersey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Flanked by family member\u2019s and surrounded by loved ones, it was a day to remember for Sotzsky. <\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Samiar Nefzi\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/author-service-images-sandbox-us-east-1.publishing.aws.arc.pub\/wplginc\/9dfe9245-12b2-40be-bc.jpeg\"  width=\"100\" height=\"100\"\/>Samiar Nefzi <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-author-bio__author-description\">Samiar Nefzi joined the Local 10 News team in August of 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published:\u00a0May 3, 2026 at 5:31 PM FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 A red carpet celebration was held for World&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-257025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}