KINGSTON, Mass. —

Surrounded by his family and memories stretching back a century, John Tura said he feels grateful.

“I’m blessed,” the Kingston resident said as he looked back on his 100 years — a life defined by service, family, and hard work.

Tura and his wife have been married 71 years, raising four children in the Cape-style home where he has lived for decades.

“It was busy… very busy,” he recalled with a laugh. Staying busy, he said, is part of the reason he’s reached such a milestone.

On Saturday, Tura will be honored as Citizen of the Year during America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration in Plymouth. Tura was chosen, in part, for his military service.

A veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, he enlisted in the Navy in 1943 at just 18 years old and was deployed to

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