A 100-year-old World War II veteran has died of the new coronavirus a century after his twin brother was killed in the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic, AFP reported, quoting US media.

Philip Kahn fought at the Battle of Iwo Jima and helped with aerial surveys after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Newsday said in its online edition.

Kahn and his twin Samuel were born in December 1919 and Samuel died of the Spanish flu not long after, the Long Island newspaper said, quoting his family.

His grandson Warren Zysman said Kahn had been afraid of another pandemic coming along during his lifetime.

“It was something he brought up quite frequently,” Zysman told CNN.

“I would have conversations with him, he would say to me, 'I told you history repeats itself, 100 years is not that long of a period of time'.”

Kahn experienced coronavirus symptoms such as coughing before his death on April 17 and knew he might have it, Zysman told CNN.