The Fourth of July is a day when many people relax and watch fireworks but here’s a story true to what the holiday stands for.

This Fourth of July gathering looks like many happening across the country, yet this one means a little more.

Not only are they celebrating Independence Day, but the 85th birthday of a World War Two veteran who fought to keep our freedom.

“You remember Yankee Doodle Dandy or whatever that song, ‘a real live nephew of my Uncle Sam, born on the Fourth of July,’ but the war made you grow, up you matured real quick there,” said veteran George Harrison.

Harrison joined the Navy in December of 1942.

As a young man from Newton, KS he sailed the Pacific to places like Okinawa, Iwo Jima and saw the devastation of the atomic bombs.

“There wasn't much to see, a few little places to see sticking up, the rest of the place was a mess,” Harrison said. “Nagasaki was pretty bad too, when we pulled into the harbor there were ships standing on end, killed everything. We got hit with a kamikaze one time. I was on a light cruiser; put a hole in it, but the bomb didn't go off so we were lucky.”

After the war he got married and eventually moved to Topeka.

Every year on July 4th he gets a year older and the memory of the war gets a little farther.

“It's a reminder but it’s not something I dwell on,” said Harrison.

George’s son David says he is an impressive man who puts others before himself.

“Earlier when we were kids it was just funny that everyone is celebrating your birthday but as you grow older and you realize what a man of his age did for us, I think that’s pretty important,” David Harrison said.

“If you haven't gone through it you probably don't think about it much, even I don't think about it as being part of the celebration for our freedoms,” said George.

“It’s just amazing what their generation did, its amazing what a lot of generations before us have done,” David said.