“I think he was Butler’s number one hero. Butler should be so proud of a man like him,” said friend Nathan DeSantis of Meridian this morning about Abie Abraham, one of Butler County’s most famous veterans, who died Thursday afternoon at Butler Memorial Hospital. He was 98.

“What a living legend,” said Henry Sinopoli, president of the Moraine Trails Council for the Boy Scouts of America, this morning. He often had Abraham speak at scouting events.

“He was a man who actually lived his tenets of community service and loyalty to his country,” Sinopoli said.

Abraham of Renfrew served with the U.S. Army in 1942 when the Philippines surrendered to Japan during World War II.

He and other American and Filipino soldiers were forced to march 60 miles in the infamous Bataan Death March. More than 20,000 men died during the march.

He remained a prisoner of war until he was liberated by U.S. troops in 1945.

He retired from the military in 1955 with 30 years of service. He then worked for the state Department of Highways.

Abraham had more than 36,000 hours of volunteering at VA Butler Healthcare over 18 years.

Abraham wrote two books about his time as a prisoner of war, and in 2005 he appeared on a History Channel documentary about the Bataan Death March.

The Geibel Funeral Home in Butler is handling the funeral arrangements.