A small crowd of family, specially invited guests and curious onlookers applauded as a vintage US army jeep drove into the grounds of Brownlow House in County Armagh.
The driver was one of a team of re-enactors dressed in uniforms worn by American troops during WWII. The passenger was the real McCoy: Jake Larson, better known to his family, friends and legion of social media followers as "Papa Jake".
The 99-year-old military veteran returned this week to the place he was stationed 80 years ago.
Brownlow House is now headquarters of the Orange Order in Lurgan, but from 1942 until 1944 it was the HQ of the US army in Northern Ireland.
One of the high profile visitors to the base was US Army General Dwight D Eisenhower, who later became the 34th President of the United States.
More than 300,000 American soldiers were based north of the border during those years, acting as a defence against a possible German invasion and training for deployment in Europe. The command and control centre was in Lurgan.
Jake Larson was based in the town as a 19-year-old in 1942. He went on to take part in the D Day landings on Omaha Beach and the Battle of the Bulge and also served in North Africa.
"It is a privilege to say that I helped push Hitler out of Europe," he told invited representatives from the Amercian, British, French and German governments.
His journey back to County Armagh began after his granddaughter created a social media account on TikTok and shared videos in which he recalled his wartime exploits.
Papa Jake couldn't remember the name of the place he had been stationed, but one of the video viewers identified Brownlow House from its distinctive chimney stacks, of which there are 52, one for each week of the year.
"I can't believe I'm back here," he said.
"I'm thrilled. I'll be 100 in December and this is one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me. To have all these people here is amazing, I'm just a farm boy from Hope, Minnesota. I'm the last of all the men I served here with."
When the management of Brownlow House were told about the planned visit, they decided to make it a bit special.
Mr Larson was greeted by a guard of honour that included two WWII US army jeeps and a team of re-enactors, while the US flag was hoisted on the flagpole on the roof of the building.
Relatives, including his son and two grandchildren, beamed with pride as he was invited to inspect the guard.
"You're bringing back memories," he said as he walked along the line.
Several times he said: "This is such an honour for me for you to do this." Each time the reply was the same: "No sir, the honour is all ours."
Mr Larson joined the US National Guard in 1938 along with his cousin when he was just 15. He lied about his age to the recruitment officer and was quickly allowed to sign up.
Granddaughter McKaela Larson organised the trip after the huge response to the TikTok videos. While it took her seven months to gain 10,000 followers on the social media platform, he had more in a week. He now has almost 500,000 followers and his videos have more than seven million likes.
"That's not bad for a 99-year-old," she said.
"I found some old video and photos of him and decided to post them and was amazed by the response. People are just fascinated by the stories he has to tell.
"Someone recognised Brownlow House in one of the photographs and Papa was delighted as he hadn't been able to remember the name of where he was based, all he could remember was that it had lots of chimneys. Then a few people asked if he had any plans to go back and he said he'd loved to."
McKaela launched a GoFundMe appeal to raise the funds needed, and the money was raised within a few months.
"It was just wonderful to be able to do this for him," she said.
"The reception has been absolutely stunning. I never thought it was going to be to this extent. It's amazing and we're truly blessed to be back here."
A museum in the basement of Brownlow House records the role it played during the war years, with exhibits illustrating the conditions the troops lived in and how they prepared for the battles ahead.
Jake Larson is believed to be the last surviving person who lived the experience for real.
