Michael Adam Emory is a veteran whose memories of war threatened to destroy his life long after he left the battlefield.

His story is portrayed by actor Scott Haze in the Steven Spielberg-produced film “Thank You for Your Service,” which follows a group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq. The movie tells of the personal struggles that veterans go through while attempting to integrate back into family and civilian life.

Haze spent time in a VA facility to prepare for the role by experiencing some of what Emory went through after returning to the states.

Although his personal story is dramatic enough to be made into a movie, Emory told me last week that one of the proudest moments in his own life was to meet Frank Buckles, America’s last veteran of World War II who died in 2011 at the age of 110.

Buckles’ remarkable life story spanned both world wars. During World War I, he served in France as an ambulance driver. Then, after being caught in Manila when Japan invaded the Philippines in 1941, he endured 38 months as a civilian prisoner of the Japanese in World War II.

After being freed in a daring raid, Frank returned to the states and settled down in West Virginia. He continued to work on his farm where he could be seen driving a tractor up to the age of 106.

Adam Emory was so overwhelmed when he first met Buckles when the veteran was 104 that he saluted him for his decades of faithful service to the nation. Media was there to capture the photo and it quickly went viral around the globe.

Last week I also learned about Orville Rogers of Texas, who recently made news with his own inspiring story. Rogers trained Army pilots during World War II, flew secret missions during the Cold War, ferried airplanes for jungle missionaries, and had a good civilian career as a pilot for Braniff Airlines.

But it’s his nearly half a century as a competitive runner that today has won him national acclaim. Orville holds numerous world records in masters athletics.

Rogers said he tries to live by an adage he learned at the Cooper Aerobic Center in Dallas, Texas, where he lifts weights and runs three times a week: “As people age they don’t wear out; they rust out.”

Running about 7 miles a week, Rogers has used that saying as a goal in his training. He figures he’s run about 42,000 miles in his life. The objective, he says, is “to slow down as slowly as possible.”

Rogers did suffer a setback in April 11, 2011, when a stroke left him questioning whether he would ever compete again. But even though there was no coaching or training regimen available for a 95-year-old, he was able to rehab and received the medical green light to return to running.

Like Rogers, Sidney Walton is another ageless wonder. When Walton’s father was young and growing up in New York City, he told his son he could have met Civil War veterans in Central Park but never took advantage of that opportunity. He always regretted the missed opportunity.

Now Sidney and his own son Paul are traveling to all 50 states to visit with as many older veterans as they can before Sidney reaches his 100th birthday. Since the journey started at the World War II museum in New Orleans, they’ve also seen four U.S. presidents, gone to the Oscars, Emmys and Tony Awards, watched Super Bowls, the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, the London Olympics and a U.S. Open.

Other notables they’ve met include Prince Harry, the Dalai Lama, Katy Perry, John Legend, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Chef Gordon Ramsay, Lady Gaga, Vin Diesel, Beyoncé, Jay Z and Lady Gaga. Rihanna even saluted Sidney by wearing his WWII visor.

Son Paul explains that living life the way they do — staying in hotels that are handicapped accessible all over the world — is certainly the best way to keep his dad out of “assisted living.”

General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II, receiving the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign. He later clashed with President Harry Truman over war policy and was removed from command, ushering in his retirement from the military and public life.

During his high-profile “farewell address” to a joint meeting of both houses of Congress on April 19, 1951, the five-star general left us with the famous line that “old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”

Frank Buckles and today’s esteemed veterans such as Orville Rogers and Sidney Walton redefined that logic by the way they’ve chosen to “fade away.”

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com