Kayla Smith, left, and Hannah Winton help Andy Valero try on an Eisenhower jacket from the World War II era at his Virginia home. (Kyle Cummings/Randolph-Macon College)
Kayla Smith was looking forward to taking a World War II history class in college two years ago when she learned on the first day of school that the class had been canceled with no explanation.
“I was so disappointed, because I’d really been looking forward to learning what the Greatest Generation went through,” said Smith, 23, a history and archaeology major at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va., who graduated last year.
As a college senior in 2023, Smith said she still felt cheated over not being able to take the World War II class. She thought there had to be a more hands-on and interactive way to learn about the war than reading books and watching movies.
“I started thinking, ‘There must be some World War II veterans who are still alive,’” she said. “I wondered if maybe I could find a few, and they could tell me about the war.”
She enlisted the help of a friend, Hannah Winton, and the two of them began calling veterans organizations in central Virginia.
World War II veterans Andy Valero, front left, and Leo Dormon, front right, with participants at a Virginia air show they attended earlier this summer. (Randolph-Macon College)
“We were told that most of the World War II veterans were gone, but we decided to keep looking,” Smith said, noting that only about 119,000 of the 16 million Americans who served during World War II are still living.
That year, she and Winton were at the Virginia State Fair when they noticed a woman running a booth with information about Veterans of Foreign Wars. The woman put them in touch with a veterans support group in Norfolk, and that’s how Smith and Winton met Andy Valero and Leo Dormon, who are 99 and 100, respectively.
Kayla Smith, left, and Hannah Winton with Andy Valero, who showed them the certificate he was awarded in honor of his participation in the Battle of the Bulge. ( Kyle Cummings/Randolph-Macon College)
Valero, a U.S. Army veteran who survived the Battle of the Bulge, and Dormon, an aviator who served in the U.S. Navy, invited the college students to their homes in the Tidewater, Va., area to chat.
“Something unexpected happened,” Winton said. “We enjoyed talking to them so much that we wanted to keep going back.”
She and Smith now visit the men several times a month — often with freshly baked brownies — to talk or have lunch. They also accompany them to veterans events, funerals and World War II commemorations.
“I never thought that at 21, some of my best friends would be 99 and 100,” Winton said. “You can read about war and study it, but these guys actually lived it. I feel honored to be their friend.”
“I feel like it’s important for me to do this because in another lifetime, or in another story, it could have been me who was sent to France, Belgium, Germany or Japan,” Smith added.
Winton, a nursing student at Randolph-Macon College, said she became especially close with Dormon, while Smith quickly formed a connection with Valero. Both men still live at home with help from family and care providers.
Dormon says he always looks forward to home visits from Winton and Smith. ( Kyle Cummings/Randolph-Macon College)
Dormon is recovering from a recent stroke, Winton said, which has given her a deeper appreciation for the visits she has had with him and Valero.
“We savor every minute, because you never know when it might be the last time you see them,” she said. “When they are gone, their history goes with them.”
She and Smith said they spent hours asking the two veterans about their war experiences and looking through photos. Last month, Randolph-Macon College published a story about the friendship blossoming between the four despite their 75-year-plus age difference.
“It’s funny because we make an odd pair to most people,” Smith said about her relationship with Valero. “I get mistaken as his granddaughter frequently, and I always clarify and explain that’s he’s one of my best friends.”
“I feel really bonded with Leo, and I love to listen to him,” Winton said. “Since his stroke, he has slower recall, but just being with him is important to me. We don’t always have to talk.”
Dormon, who was a Navy flight instructor, flew more than 35 different aircraft and trained more than 300 pilots during World War II. He also flew during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
“I’m an aviation nerd, and he’s a fighter pilot with more than 10,000 flight hours,” said Winton, who hopes to become a Navy pilot someday. “We took him and Andy to an air show in June, and Leo was thrilled to go up in one of the vintage planes.”
“He said it was almost like being back with the guys again,” she said.
Dormon said he always looks forward to spending time with Winton and Smith.
“Hannah and Kayla have been regular visitors, and I have been so thankful to see both,” he told The Washington Post in a written statement. “Taking the time to visit an aging person takes courage and patience, and they’ve made my life much happier. Bless them both.”
Winton and Smith attend a Battle of the Bulge commemoration with Valero in January. (Randolph-Macon College)
Valero said he’d just arrived on the front lines in Belgium’s Ardennes Forest area in December 1944 when the Germans launched a massive attack on Allied forces.
“It was the worst winter in 25 years, and we had frozen fingers and trench foot,” he said, referring to the painful condition that results from standing for a lengthy time in a cold and wet environment.
Valero lost several of his close comrades in the battle.
“I didn’t talk about it for many years, but I felt comfortable talking about it with Kayla and Hannah,” he said. “They’re very caring and they feel like family to me. They’re like angels who came out of nowhere.”
Smith said Valero has helped her cope with pain in her life as well. Her father died by suicide when she was a college sophomore, and two weeks after that, her grandfather died.
“My entire world was flipped upside down,” she said.
“After I met Andy, I felt I could open up to him,” Smith said. “I didn’t think I’d ever be happy again, but to hear him talk about the war and being numb, not wanting to feel anything, I saw how he’d been to hell and risen above it. I knew that was the kind of person I wanted to be.”
Valero and Dormon both attended her wedding in April, Smith said, and earlier this year, she and Winton accompanied Valero to Arlington National Cemetery for a ceremony honoring the 75,000 Americans who were casualties in the Battle of the Bulge.
“It’s wonderful that we can be there for each other’s milestones,” she said. “Andy introduced me to scotch, and I introduced him to FaceTime. Helping him has made me feel useful — like I have a spot in the world. Our friendship is something I never thought would come from a canceled college class.”
