By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

One almost can feel the chill when Ignatius "Ig" Gross talks about the sub-zero temperatures he endured while fighting in World War II.

The twinkle in his eye soon warms things up, though.

After all, the 93-year-old Hays man has beaten the odds, time and time again.

Gross and the men in his 4th Armored Division of the U.S. Army were told upon their discharge not to expect to live past the age of 45 because of the extreme weather conditions their bodies went through.

Gross was 31 at the time.

That prediction held true for everyone in his division, so Gross never was one much for military reunions.

"I wouldn't have known anyone," he said. "All my buddies were gone."

But Gross lives on.

"I fooled 'em," he said this morning at his home in Hays, where he lives alone since the death of his wife, Lydia, about six years ago. "I'm still here."

In fact, Gross is more active than some folks half his age.

Rain or shine, he walks a mile five days a week at The Mall.

Not today, though.

He was busy this morning getting ready for a ceremony at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall.

The annual ceremony on Veterans Day, which is today, is one time Gross allows himself a pat on the back for fighting for his country.

Otherwise, he can take or leave the military accolades.

He survived five large battles, including the Battle of the Bulge, and a couple of leg injuries from bullets and another when his tank hit a land mine.

"They just patched me up, and we went on," said Gross, who seemed to have a knack of dodging bullets.

He turned down numerous battlefield commissions because, he said, "I told them, 'I'm not here for the glory. I'm here to get this over with and go home.' "

Home was his native Ellis County, where he was reunited with his wife in 1945, and together they raised two daughters.

Gross' two younger brothers, Gus and Nick, also served in World War II. They have both since died, and Gross is the last remaining survivor in a family of 12 siblings.

He does, however, get to spend a lot of time with one of his daughters, Jeanette Budig, who lives in Hays.

A widow herself, Budig -- a special education teacher -- talks to her dad every night on the phone, and they spend every weekend together.

Although he has official paperwork saying he's entitled to the Silver Star, the second highest military award given, there isn't one in Gross' medal case.

"I just never went after it," he said. "It didn't seem like that big of deal. But I've got the paperwork here if someone wants to get it."

There is a silver piece in that medal case he treasures -- a 1902 silver dollar.

At the time he was drafted, Gross was working in the production planning office of Beach Aircraft in Wichita.

As a good luck token, Beach gave Gross and other draftees of the war each a silver dollar.

"I carried that in my pocket the entire time," Gross said. "Never lost it."

Gross, of course, doesn't attribute that "lucky" silver dollar to his good health.

He just accepts it as a blessing and moves on, year after year after year.

"No explanation," he said. "I'm just here."