Startling Discovery: 95-Year-Old WWII Vet Learns He's Not a U.S. Citizen

After spending his entire lifetime -- nearly a century! -- assuming he was an American, one World War II veteran recently got the surprise of his life when he went to apply for an enhanced driver's license and was turned down. It turns out 95-year-old Leeland Davidson is actually Canadian.

In 1916, Davidson was born in British Columbia to two American parents. But when his parents returned with him to America, they never had their son declared a U.S. citizen. Although U.S. citizenship is not necessary for military service, Davidson thought his citizenship issues were resolved when he enlisted in the Navy in 1940.

But 70 years later, the 95-year-old military veteran was denied a license he was trying to get to visit family across the border in Canada. Up until about four years ago, before citizenship requirements for traveling in and out of the United States were restricted, Davidson traveled in and out of Canada at least once a year.

"I always thought I was an American citizen," Davidson told KOMO News. "We went up to get an enhanced driver's license and they turned me down."

"We always figured because he was born to U.S. parents he's automatically a U.S. citizen," Davidson's daughter, Rose Schoolcroft, said. Leeland's family is concerned about his need for naturalization and the threat of deportation. "If he pursued it, (he could) possibly be deported or at risk of losing Social Security, so it kind of scared everybody."

"We keep telling him, leave it alone, leave it alone, and he won't, like a dog with a bone," Schoolcraft told the Centralia Chronicle.

Now, the aged veteran is on a new mission -- to prove that he's an American.

"I want to get it done before I die," Davidson says.

But proving his parents were Americans may be a daunting task with no real records of birth remaining in the family:

"My Dad was born and we called Iowa and (they) didn't start keeping records until 1880 and he was born in 1878," Davidson said.

Because he's a veteran, applying for citizenship won't cost Leeland anything and immigration officials say they will expedite his application. But after years of service to his adopted country, the bureaucratic process is disheartening.

"I'm an American citizen," Davidson said. "Why should I have to fill out these forms? That's what irks me."

In 2002 President George W. Bush signed an Executive Order authorizing all non-citizens who served in the U.S. armed forces on or after Sept. 11, 2001, or who served in certain past wars and conflicts, be eligible for citizenship.

Davidson is ready and eager. "I don't know why it would be too late," he said.