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Iraq, Afghanistan veterans cared for by soldier from Greatest Generation

Rachel Stoltzfoos Staff Reporter
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Ninety-two-year-old Army veteran James Chitty was recently honored by the Kansas House of Representatives for completing 10,551 hours of service at a veterans hospital in Wichita.

“I figure I owe something to the veterans,” Chitty told The Wichita Eagle. “I get more out of volunteering than I receive.”

Chitty served four years in the Army during World War II, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He then taught history and social studies for 14 years and worked in aircraft production for 36 years before retiring.

He began serving as a patient escort in 1989 at the Robert J. Dole Veterans Administration Medical Center and continues to serve four days a week, reported the Wichita Eagle.

Some patients are surprised 92-year-old Chitty, who’s just 5-foot 6-inches and weighs 140 pounds, can handle the job.

“I get somebody in one of these double-wheelchairs and when they ask me if I can handle them, I just look at them in the eye and say, ‘I’ve handled bigger than you,'” Chitty told the Eagle.