Most reunions are full of happy bluster as old friends discuss their lives and recount the past.

But a reunion also can leave heavy hearts, especially when it is billed as one of the last ever to be held.

That was the case over the weekend when 125 veterans of the U.S. Army's 86th Infantry Division, known as the Blackhawk Division, held their final official reunion Downtown at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today and a Blackhawk veteran, was guest speaker.

As expected, the reunion featured recollections of funny moments the soldiers experienced during the cruelties of World War II, with most of the worst memories left untold.

There also were a few friendly disagreements over details -- whether, for example, the division was headed to San Francisco or already crossing the Pacific when Japan surrendered. Names and dates might be forgotten but not story lines.

The reunion managed to bring together a group of soldiers who'd fought in both the European and Pacific theaters 63 years ago. It's an honor, or fate, shared only with the 97th Infantry Division.

But the dwindling numbers of Blackhawk members is a sobering aftermath to the upbeat story of the so-called greatest generation -- with its world-war victories and pursuits of largely successful lives and careers.

After next year's memorial ceremony and dedication of a bronze sculpture at Camp San Luis Obispo, Calif., the 86th Blackhawk Division Association no longer will exist.

With veterans in their 80s and older, members are dying too quickly and survivors are getting too aged to travel. This year's reunion drew only a fraction of the nearly 1,000 who attended in 1990.

Once numbering 16 million, World War II veterans are dying at a rate of more than 1,000 a day. Fewer than 2.5 million remain -- barely one in six -- The Associated Press reported in the spring.

"The board is exhausted," said association President Richard D. Behrends, 85, of Greensboro, N.C. "We voted for dissolution in 2009, but we're going to encourage individual groups to continue getting together."

Mr. Behrends sculpted the bronze soldier that will stand atop a granite base in California to memorialize the division's accomplishments. In seven months, the association has raised $140,000, with a goal of $200,000.

The countdown for the association served as an undertone for an otherwise happy occasion.

"It's very sad," said Eugene G. Khorey, 82, of West Mifflin, a rifleman with the Blackhawk Division, who claims to be "one of the youngest."

"I'm hoping we will meet individually on a regular basis. I'm hoping this can continue.

"I hope to see these guys again," he said.

The 86th Blackhawk Division, which already had combat experience in Germany, was considered to be young, smart and brash enough to circle the globe to resume battle in the Pacific.

The division included soldiers from Pennsylvania and the Midwest who trained in California for Pacific combat -- that is, until the War Department decided to send them to Germany.

There, the division spearheaded attacks against German forces in the Ruhr Pocket before joining Gen. George Patton's army to head south through Bavaria into Austria to prepare for the Redoubt in Berchtesgaden, where the German Reich had vowed to make a final stand in Hitler's mountaintop Eagle's Nest.

On the way, the 15,000 soldiers of the Blackhawk Division conquered 220 miles of Germany, crossed six major rivers, including the Rhine and Danube, and captured 53,354 prisoners.

The war ended in Berlin while the division was preparing to attack Eagle's Nest. After Germany's surrender, the division recaptured the Hungarian crown jewels.

The Blackhawk Division suffered 785 casualties and 161 deaths in Europe.

Because they had served only 40 days of combat, the War Department chose to send the division members home for 30 days, then deploy them to the Philippines, where war still raged. Back home, they participated in a ticker-tape parade in New York City, with nagging thoughts of redeployment.

After more training, this time at Camp Gruber, Okla., the division headed to San Francisco to be shipped out to the Philippines, where it saw jungle action against Japanese soldiers who hadn't yet learned that their nation had surrendered.

From Austria to the Philippines, members of the Blackhawk Division gained a war perspective few others could claim.

After a memorial service yesterday to honor association members who had died in the past year, the group departed with hopes that at least some could reconvene in California next year to dedicate the bronze statue.

The goodbyes were emotional, especially for rugged old soldiers.

"We've been together so long," Mr. Behrends said. "It will be tough not being with these people."