CLEARWATER, Fla. — Chief Petty Officer William "Bill" Monfort will celebrate his 108th birthday on Dec. 17.
Monfort lives in a care center in Clearwater, where his nurse Lisa Weaver had the idea a few years ago to collect cards to celebrate his long and impressive life.
Monfort is believed to be the oldest WWII veteran in Florida.
"He was one of the first radiomen to receive the Pearl Harbor attack calls! He is a kamikaze attack survivor," Weaver explained in a Facebook post. "He is the sweetest hero you will ever meet!"
Cards may be sent to Bill Monfort at 3260 McMullen Booth Rd., Clearwater, FL, 33761.
"Thank you very much for helping me give this man the respect and recognition he deserves," Weaver wrote. "He loves his birthday and said he feels 37!"
10 Tampa Bay visited with Monfort on Wednesday. He said he feels half his age.
"I don't feel old," Monfort said. "People ask me all the time and I tell them, maybe 50."
Monfort, who goes by Bill, fills his life with adventure.
"I've been in all 50 states, all the states and all the places the U.S. owned like the Island of Guam and American Samoa," he said.
And the "travel bug" is still biting.
"I do what I want to. I travel when I can," Monfort said. "I want to go and spend some time in Colorado, I would like to."
Bill enlisted in the Navy when he was barely 19 years old. He survived kamikaze attacks and was among the first to respond to the Pearl Harbor attack, as his destroyer was just off the coast of Hawaii.
"I was two days out. I left Pearl Harbor on Friday and it was bombed on Sunday," he said.
He has vivid memories of days most of us have only read about.
"We shot down a lot of airplanes," Monfort recalled. "A lot of people over the years have asked me if I was ever scared and I say, 'I don't know, maybe I was, but I had a job to do and I did it.'"
Bill said as long as he continues to feel good and healthy, he looks forward to celebrating his birthday for years to come.