‘Papa Jake’ leaves long legacy
Jake Larson, a World War II veteran from Steele County who became the unlikeliest of social media stars, has died. He was 102.
Larson, who was born Dec. 20, 1922, on a 160-acre farm two miles west of Hope, came back to the area in 2023, when he attended the Steele County Free Fair at 100 years old.
During his visit, Larson said people had always thought he was older, “and it changed my life.” He started grade school at age 4 and by age 12, was ready for high school.
His father had other ideas, because in a family of eight, each child had a special job to do.
“I near didn’t get the chance to go to high school,” Larson said in 2023. “My dad said, ‘There’ll be no high school. I got Jake to do his chores.’”
But there was high school – for a while.
Larson attended Ellendale High School with his cousin “Chick” Larson, who suggested they join the National Guard. Both were just 15 years old, but lied about their ages as they signed up. Their service – two hours of drills every Monday night – earned them a check for $12 every three months.
Four years later, Larson was sent to Northern Ireland, where he became an operations sergeant and assembled planning books for the invasion of Normandy.
On June 6, 1944, Larson was among the nearly 160,000 Allied troops who stormed the beaches of northern France, helping to end WWII.
He survived machine-gun fire and avoided the million landmines on the beach – all at age 21.
Six months later, Larson would later serve at the Battle of the Bulge; for his service, he received a Bronze star from the U.S. Army and the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor.
Despite all that, Larson insisted he was not a hero – “just a farm boy, born and raised. No electricity, no running water, milking 32 cows every morning and every night.”
While in Steele County for the fair, the superintendents of Owatonna High School and New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva High School presented Larson with an honorary high school diploma for Ellendale, completing his education.
Fame found Larson as he approached 100, when his granddaughter introduced him to TikTok – and history was made again.
Larson became wildly popular for his “Story Time with Papa Jake,” which charmed the social media world with his jokes and stories, eventually garnering 1.2 million followers on the social media app.
His list of accomplishments as a centenarian included winning an Emmy Award with journalist Christiane Amanpour for their interview about the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
McKaela Larson said in a statement on TikTok that her grandfather “went peacefully and was even cracking jokes ‘til the very end,” on July 17.
A family memorial is planned for the fall in California; another memorial to honor the Minnesota “farm boy” in Steele County may also be held.