US veteran Jake Larson -TikTok star ‘Papa Jake’ - stationed in Northern Ireland during WW2, including at Brownlow House in Lurgan, passes away at 102
A US soldier who was stationed in Northern Ireland during World War Two and later became one of TikTok’s oldest stars has passed away at the age of 102.
Jake Larson had more than 1.2 million followers on social media as a centenarian, posting as @storytimewithpapajake on TikTok with stories about his life and military service, including of his time in Northern Ireland.
His grand-daughter McKaela Larson broke the news of his passing, posting: “Our beloved Papa Jake has passed away on July 17th at 102 years young. Please know, he went peacefully and was even cracking jokes til the very end.”
In 2022 – when he was 99 – the veteran returned to Northern Ireland, for the first time in 80 years.
It was McKaela who turned her ‘Papa Jake’ into a social media celebrity by setting up a TikTok channel for him to share his stories.
Through his posts, the ex-soldier was even able to find out the name of the castle he stayed in while stationed in Northern Ireland.
McKaela – who accompanied her grandfather to Northern Ireland along with other family members – said at the time: “He could only remember he was stationed at a castle but he couldn’t remember the name. He remembered there were lots of chimneys. We posted the photos and one of the followers said, ‘oh, that looks like the Brownlow House’ and they sent us pictures.
"We found a video on YouTube of drone footage, once we saw that we matched the stairs to the photo.”
A visit to Brownlow House in Lurgan was therefore one of the key spots on Jake’s itinerary when he came back to Northern Ireland.
He said he had fond memories of his time here in 1942 and even recalled that it was a picture taken at Brownlow House that led to him marrying the love of his life, though he knew nothing of the photo until three years after they were married.
Jake and Lola started dating in May 1945, married in November, and in 1948 he saw a familiar face in her wallet: “I said to her, ‘where on earth did you get that picture?’ She had cut it out from the local newspaper in 1942 and said, ‘that’s the guy I’m going to marry, so help me God’.”
Jake recalled also spending some time in Ballymena selling insurance to GIs.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in Normandy in June 2024 on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, he said he remembered landing on Omaha Beach “like it was yesterday”.
When asked if he and his comrades knew what they were fighting for at the time, he replied: “Oh, definitely. That we knew. Every one of us was prepared to give our life to kick Hitler’s ass out of Europe. … And we did.”
Just over three weeks ago, Amanpour won a prestigious Emmy television award for that interview.
When told about the award, Jake described the honour as “unbelievable” adding: “And here I am, little country boy that joins the infantry at 15 years old and I come here now, 102, going on 103 and I’m winning something like this. There is a God.”