Decades after his first donation, veteran gives 30th gallon of blood

A man prepares to donate blood.
(Image credit: iStockphoto)

William Chesser, a Korean War veteran and retired probation and parole officer, knows his strengths.

"I can't sing or dance, but I can give blood," he told the Dothan Eagle. The Ariton, Alabama, resident donated his first pint of blood during a military blood drive in Japan back in the 1950s. Since then, the 85-year-old — who also volunteers at a food bank and is a Kiwanis Club member — has made an effort to donate blood whenever possible, and he regularly drives to the LifeSouth Community Blood Centers office in Dothan to give. On Tuesday, he hit a milestone, donating his 30th gallon of blood. "It's a need I can help fill," he said.

The American Red Cross says that fewer than 10 percent of Americans eligible to donate blood do so, and there's always a demand — it's estimated that every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.