Marvin Gilmore Jr. was 20 when he and other U.S. troops stormed the beaches in Normandy, France, in 1944. Eighty years later, while he says he’s “very, very excited” to spend Memorial Day in Washington, he laments how the country is wracked by division.

Gilmore, 100, and several other World War II veterans will serve as Grand Marshals for the American Veterans Center‘s annual parade, though the total population of WWII veterans continues to diminish every day.