Video above is from KSN's Veteran Salute on June 5, 2024 WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Olen Mitchell, the 103-year-old Hutchinson World War II veteran, who KSN News featured as part of our Veteran Salute, died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, his family announced to KSN News. Mitchell was born in Oklahoma in 1921, and he spent his early childhood in Elkhart before moving to Hutchinson, where he worked at Dillons stocking shelves. Mitchell was drafted in 1943 after Pearl Harbor was bombed. "I had to report to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and I did, and took the physical and passed and was inducted to the U.S. Army," Mitchell told KSN this summer. Mitchell was sent to an infantry training center for 16 weeks, where he was taught how to be a rifleman. He was then shipped to Italy. During his service, he received a Purple Heart after being shot in the face while fighting the Germans on the front lines in Italy. This past summer, Mitchell traveled to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Kansas Honor Flight said Mitchell joined them for Honor Flight 16 in 2014.