REEDLEY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A veteran from Reedley celebrated his 99th birthday Wednesday.  The local ExPOW chapter gathered at Denny’s in Clovis to celebrate his long, impactful life. At 99 years old, Vernon “Vern” Schmidt is still the president of that chapter, bringing people together every month to share their stories. At 18 years old, he joined the fight in World War II, serving from 1944 to 1946. He was later drafted again in 1951 to serve in the Korean War. During WWII, he says he saw death from his first day of service to his last. “It was just tough going. We had the coldest winter in 50 years. I had my boots off two times from February to May. So if you have your boots off, maybe something else came off. But that's all I had - only two times,” Schmidt said. Even the coldness of war did not freeze his heart, though. His regimen became friends with some of the German families. “A couple of times, they would invite us in and have maybe some hot rolls that they just made in the oven and stuff like that,” Schmidt said. One person at the birthday party remarked, “you have more friends in more places than anybody I know.” He says members of his church in Reedley wrote 40 soldiers’ names on the walls to remember to pray for them during the war. “Someone in that church had committed every day to get on their knees and mention our name in prayer,” Schmidt said. He credits those daily prayers for bringing him home. Since returning to the United States, he has dedicated himself to bringing veterans and their families together. He plans to spend many more years serving the local ExPOW chapter, honoring those who paid the price of freedom. “We’re proud to be an American. We’re proud to be an American,” Schmidt said. His life story is now memorialized in the newly-released book A Hero and Advocate For All Others: WWII as Remembered by Vernon N. Schmidt. All proceeds for that book will go to support the Honor Flight.