Jack Warren sits in his living room dressed in red, white, and blue. His suspenders sport wavy American flags. His turtle neck is red. His pants blue denim. Behind him, flying in the breeze outside on the front lawn are two flags: Old Glory and a crisp new United States Marine Corps flag.

Warren is a veteran through and through. He served as a Marine reservist for a year right after graduating from high school in 1948, then joined the U.S. Navy. He spent his military career on a ship in the Korean war as an electronic technician, retiring from the Navy in 1952 as a petty officer second class.

A highlight for him was fixing General Douglas MacArthur’s radio transmitter aboard the USS Mount McKinley. “MacArthur said, `keep him here. I want him here,'” Warren recalls. But he had to return to his ship, the USS Cavalier, to carry out his duty there.

Those four years marked an indoctrination into the military for Warren that have lasted his whole life. Warren spent his career working for various companies, including Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane and Boeing and Tally Corp. in King County before retiring in Enumclaw. But is passion lies with the Marines. He’s a fixture in the Enumclaw and Washington state military communities, devoting countless volunteer hours working behind the scenes to make sure those who served their country are not forgotten.

As the community prepares to celebrate Memorial Day next week, it’s Warren’s turn to be recognized for the work he’s done. At age 80, this likely will be his last time to recognize this day. Warren is dying.

His lungs and heart are giving out and he’s receiving care in his home from Providence Hospice of Seattle. The hospice organization has a special program for veterans called “We Honor Veterans,” which recognizes the unique needs of America’s veterans and their families. Warren joined Providence Hospice before the program began, but other veterans can now benefit from it.

“Jack doesn’t like to draw attention to himself, but he likes to draw attention to veterans who served their country,” said Greg Malone, the hospice chaplain who has been meeting with Warren over the past two years. “There’s not much attention to Korean War vets. Jack is quietly trying to bring recognition to veterans who served their country.”

Warren’s resume of military volunteerism is long. He served as a judge advocate and in 2001 he was named Department of Washington Marine of the Year. Acting on a dream that came to him one night, Warren helped create and establish the Purple Heart memorial at Veterans Memorial Park, which contains the names of Enumclaw area men who lost their lives in serve to their country. He also worked with the Marine Corp League to place a memorial at the park commemorating the 36 Marines who died on a plane wreck on Mount Rainier in 1946. It was a duplicate of one on the mountain. In addition, Warren twice was commander of the local VFW.

Lately he’s been working to correct the disparity between how the U.S. government treats those who are killed in combat versus those who are killed in the line of duty by accident or other non-combat related death. If something bad happens during combat, if a soldier is injured or killed, the soldier receives a Purple Heart. The name is placed on a memorial. But if soldiers die in a helicopter or car crash, or in a training accident or by friendly fire, they don’t get a medal. Their name rarely goes on a wall. Warren is still working to change this nationwide.

“I was meant to do what I’ve done,” Warren said.