WW2 veteran gets thousands of cards after asking for 100 for his 100th birthday

Joe Cuba’s only request for his 100th birthday was to receive 100 cards. Now he has thousands.

When the Second World War veteran’s request was put on Facebook by Brookdale Midwestern, the assisted living facility where he lives in Wichita Falls, Texas, it quickly received attention.

Cuba was pictures holding a sign which read: “I’m a WWII veteran who will be turning 100 on March 2, 2019. I would like to receive 100 birthday cards.”

The image also included a postal address, and cards soon started to come in.

Local news coverage followed, and subsequent posts were even more widely shared to the extent that, as of Wednesday, he had received around 16,000 according to local news reports.

“I thank every one of them,” Cuba told local news station KFDX. “They did give and that’s what counts.”

Along with cards and presents from all corners of the US and beyond, Joe, who was a technical sergeant in the United States Army Air Forces, was also receiving original art produced in his honour.

Jarvis Polvado, executive director of Brookdale Midwestern, told the Times Record News: “He’s very humble about it, but we’re very excited to see it.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we think we’d ever think we’d be a part of something this big, especially something that goes worldwide.”