This archive report was first published on 23 April 2020.
On April 17, 2020, Philip Kahn, a 100-year-old World War II veteran, succumbed to the new coronavirus, a century after his twin brother Samuel died of the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919.
Philip Kahn, a decorated war veteran, fought at the Battle of Iwo Jima and helped with aerial surveys after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Born in December 1919, Kahn's twin brother Samuel died of the Spanish flu not long after.
According to his grandson Warren Zysman, Kahn had been afraid of another pandemic coming along during his lifetime. He would often say, 'I told you history repeats itself, 100 years is not that long of a period of time.'
Philip Kahn enlisted in the US Army Air Corps pilot training program in 1940 and served in the Pacific during World War II. He was awarded two bronze stars for his service.
On his 98th birthday in 2017, Kahn reflected on the horrors of war, saying, 'War is terrible. Soldiers get killed, but the civilians suffer, too, and the women and children suffer the worst.'
Philip Kahn was buried on April 20, 2020, at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, Long Island.
