As certificate after certificate and recognition after recognition was laid at the lap of one of Boone County’s remaining World War II veterans, Robert Bartlett, he had one thing to say:

“I’ve never felt so special in all my life.”

Thursday marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy, France, as part of the “beginning of the end” of World War II. Bartlett was a chief engineering officer on the USS P.C. 1077, a submarine chaser, and was stationed at Pearl Harbor. He had an extensive career in mechanical engineering and at one point wrote the book on Steam Turbine Performance and Economics in 1958.

He is 99 years old and he and his wife are in the process of writing books about his military career and journeys taken on the Pan-American Highway, which Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe said she was eager to read after delivering a proclamation on D-Day and letter to Bartlett directly.

Bartlett also received recognitions from the Boone County Commission with a message delivered by Southern District Commissioner and veteran Justin Aldred, a resolution by the Missouri House from State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, D-Columbia, and a letter from Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe.

Kehoe, in his letter wrote, “(Bartlett’s) service in the Pacific Theater in World War II helped ensure the United States could undertake Operation Overlord (the D-Day landings) on the other side of the Globe. Ensign Bartlett answered his nation’s greatest call in a a time of great need.

“… We remember not just the size, significance and complexity of this (D-Day) operation but those that carried it out,” he continued. “I encourage you to look at the 137 names on the (Boone County) World War II wall. … Those names represent a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who gave what President Lincoln rightly referred to as the ‘last full measure of devotion’ as part of of the more than 8,000 Missourians killed in combat during World War II.”

From 2023: World War II veteran recognized at ceremony also commemorating D-Day landings

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on X, formerly Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia D-Day event celebrates Boone County World War II veteran