FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Homer Anderson's death in September, a few months shy of his 109th birthday, wasn't just a loss to his friends and family. It was a loss to the nation.

Anderson, of Pompano Beach, Fla., was one of the few surviving veterans of World War I in the country. His passing left 12 men — soldiers and sailors who 90 years ago lived through trench and early chemical warfare — on a list the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs began compiling just last year.

But veteran officials and historians believe there may be more undocumented veterans who served in what was once called the Great War, men whose age is well past the century mark.

The VA is eager to find them while there's still time to honor them in their lifetimes, and to be able to mark when the very last one marches off history's stage.

"With the ages of these guys, we don't have a lot of time left," said Chris Schreer, a VA public affairs specialist who has taken an interest in World War I vets. The VA is putting the word out through local veteran's organizations and its own field offices.

Schreer said there's now talk of a World War I ceremony in Washington, D.C. this coming Memorial Day. The National World War I Museum, the only facility of its kind in the nation, will open in Kansas City, Mo. on Dec. 2.