WATCH: World War II Veteran Learns To Read At 89


An aged maestro who stormed a beach during Normandy during World War II has finally won his longest-running battle: a onslaught with illiteracy.

Ed Bray, 89, lives alone in Cookson, Okla., reports CBS News. The maestro has dual purple hearts, though his dark tip — that he can’t review or write — is “the toughest thing that ever happened” to him.

For decades, Bray lonesome adult this fact. A colleague helped him with papers in his pursuit on an Air Force base, and his mother helped him during home until she died in 2009.

But final week, with a assistance of Northeastern State University highbrow Tobi Thompson, Bray review a book for a really initial time. It was a grade-school journal of George Washington.

A 2003 U.S. Education Department consult of adult literacy estimates that over 10 percent of adults in America can’t read. Globally, a United Nations estimates over 775 million people are illiterate.

For a elderly, illiteracy compounds other problems in large ways. ABC News reported on a investigate from a Archives of Internal Medicine that pronounced that adults who were incompetent to review their prescriptions were 50 percent some-more expected to stoop to illness than their lettered peers.

Various organizations, including a New York Public Library, unite adult education programs. Success stories, like Ed Bray, are always inspiring.

In 2011, an aged Connecticut male wrote a book dual years after he wrote his name for a really initial time. James Henry schooled to review during 96 years aged — and during 98 he wrote his autobiography, “In A Fisherman’s Language.”

Also on HuffPost:

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  • In an try to make a noted entrance, a infantryman — who’s been divided from home for some-more than 8 months — motionless to hide into a family design during his grandma’s 76th birthday celebration, a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/sailor-surprises-grandmother-birthday-celebration-video_n_1383183.html” target=”_hplink”The Huffington Post reports. /a

    Wrapping her arms around him, a sailor’s grandmother yelled in fad during a steer of her grandson.

  • Last October, Staff Sergeant Chris Reed — armed with a trays full of quick food — a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/28/soldier-surprises-wife-chick-fil-a_n_1064431.html” target=”_hplink”surprised his wife,/a Amy, during a Chick-fil-A grill in Eustis, Fla.

    “It started off with her usually screaming and her shedding tears. Then everybody started shedding tears. There wasn’t a dry eye in a place,” Chick-fil-A’s Kevin O’Learya href=”http://www.wesh.com/r/29594797/detail.html#ixzz1c6woi2k8? target=”_hplink” told WESH.com./a

  • After being deployed in Kuwait and Iraq for a year, Specialist Matthew Peters from Owensville, Mo., popped into a cafeteria of Washington West Elementary School to give his son, Blake, a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/military-surprise-homecom_n_974780.html” target=”_hplink”a prolonged overdue hug. /a

    Peters had told Blake, who dissolved into tears during a steer of his father, that he’d be home 10 days after than when he indeed showed up.

  • On an part of a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEDV8nu3tf8? target=”_hplink”TLC’s “Surprise Homecoming”,/a Sgt. Lawrence Lee sings his approach behind into a hearts of his dual children.

  • In March, a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/military-father-surprises-daughter-on-stage_n_1389434.html” target=”_hplink”The Huffington Post/a reported that father-of-three MSG Joseph Devine (U.S. Army) returned from Afghanistan after spending a year in Afghanistan.

    Devine motionless to warn his 18-year-old daughter on theatre during her high propagandize after she delivered a debate as captain of her debate team.

    “She is daddy’s usually small girl, always will be, and child did it show,” a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/military-father-surprises-daughter-on-stage_n_1389434.html” target=”_hplink”said Devine’s wife, Kathryn./a

  • Last December, Capt. Dawn McCracken-Bruce reunited with her immature sons usually in time for Christmas, a href=”http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/iraq-war-mom-surprises-sons-mall-15225161? target=”_hplink”ABC News reports./a

    The infantryman mom astounded her dual children during a mall.

  • A infantryman home from Kuwait a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/a-soldier-home-from-kuwai_n_1498126.html” target=”_hplink”paid an astonishing revisit to/a his father-in-law.

    The soldier’s wife, Cari S., prisoner a proposal impulse on camera

    “My big, tough Daddy turns into a large ole’ softy when it comes to his kids, and he is so unapproachable of his son-in-law. As we can see, he is on a business call and walks right by my father when he comes in. we adore his reaction,” she wrote a href=”http://welcomehomeblog.com/2012/05/02/u-s-soldier-home-from-kuwait-surprises-father-in-law/#disqus_thread” target=”_hplink”in a video’s description/a on a Welcome Home Blog.

  • A U.S. Army integrate portion in a parachute-jumping section in Afghanistan returned home to a pleasure and tears of their dual immature children, a href=”http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/fox_cities/Army-couple-surprises-children-at-Outagamie-County-Regional-Airport?hpt=us_bn9? target=”_hplink”Fox 11 News reports. /a

    When asked what she wants to do with her parents, Travis and Isela Ulman, during their dual weeks during home, 11-year-old Tashia pronounced that she has large plans.

    “Hug them over and over and afterwards we wish to uncover them my room and we wish to move them to school,” she said.

  • In this viral video, watch as a infantryman is reunited with his dear pooch, Emmit.

    The outrageous Great Dane, aptly nicknamed “Thunderpaws”, is seen giving Trevor Chowder, who had usually returned from a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan, a prolonged and amatory hug, a href=”http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/soldier-dog-reunion-video-hit-210952704.html” target=”_hplink”Yahoo! News reports./a

  • There are many videos of servicemen and women startling their families, though it’s a special provide when we see a tables turned.

    Here is a heartwarming new video from a a href=”http://welcomehomeblog.com/2012/05/14/u-s-marine-gets-surprised-by-his-8-year-old-little-sister/” target=”_hplink”Welcome Home Blog/a that shows a Marine removing a large warn from his small sister.

    “My son-in-law took my 8-year-old daughter with him to broach my son’s motorcycle to him in AZ. Our Marine did not know that his small sister was coming. This video is of when he found out,” wrote a Marine’s mom, Barbara W., a href=”http://welcomehomeblog.com/2012/05/14/u-s-marine-gets-surprised-by-his-8-year-old-little-sister/” target=”_hplink”in a video description./a

  • A 6-year-old child with intelligent palsy gave his infantryman father a really special homecoming when he walked into his father’s open arms, a href=”http://www.rightthisminute.com/video/Marine-RTM-son-walks-first-time-Jeremy-Michael-Cooney” target=”_hplink”RightThisMinute.com reports./a

    Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Cooney, 31, had been told that his son would never be means to walk.

    However, during a 7 months that Cooney was away, a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/jeremy-cooney-us-marine-son-cerebral-palsy_n_1507423.html” target=”_hplink”his son schooled to travel on his own./a

    Cooney’s mother Melissa kept her son’s swell a tip for a generation of her husband’s deployment so that when he finally returned home, he would be welcomed with a present of a lifetime.

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