Last American WWI Veteran Dies
(March 1, 2011) |
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|  WASHINGTON,
Feb. 28, 2011 – Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving
American World War I veteran, died yesterday at his West
Virginia home. He was 110.
Sixteen-year-old Buckles
enlisted in the Army on Aug. 14, 1917, after lying to
several recruiters about his age. (photo left)
“I was
just 16 and didn't look a day older. I confess to you that I
lied to more than one recruiter. I gave them my solemn word
that I was 18, but I'd left my birth certificate back home
in the family Bible. They'd take one look at me and laugh
and tell me to home before my mother noticed I was gone,”
Buckles wrote in 2009.
Buckles tried the Marines and
Navy, but both turned him away. An Army recruiter, however,
accepted his story.
“Somehow I got the idea that
telling an even bigger whopper was the way to go. So I told
the next recruiter that I was 21 and darned if he didn't
sign me up on the spot!” he wrote.
Buckles earned the
rank of corporal and traveled England and France serving as
an ambulance driver. After the Armistice in 1918, Buckles
escorted prisoners of war back to Germany. He was discharged
in 1920.
In 1942 Buckles worked as a civilian for a
shipping company in the Philippines, where he was captured
in Manila by the Japanese the day after they attacked Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii. He spent three and a half years in the Los
Ba�os prison camp. He was rescued on February 23, 1945.
Buckles married Audrey Mayo of Pleasanton, Calif., in
1946. The couple moved to his Gap View Farm near Charles
Town in January 1954 where Buckles reportedly continued to
drive his tractor until he was 106.
On February 4,
2008, with the death of 108-year-old Harry Richard Landis,
Buckles became the last surviving American World War I
veteran. Since, Buckles championed veterans' causes, was
invited to the White House and honored at the Pentagon.
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Defense Secretary Robert M.
Gates, left, talks with Frank Buckles, the last
living American World War I veteran, during a
Pentagon ceremony March 6, 2008. Buckles died Feb.
27, 2011, at age 110. DOD photo by R. D. Ward |
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In March 2008 Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates honored
Buckles during a Pentagon ceremony in which officials
unveiled a World War I veterans' exhibit.
“Whoever
views this display will, I am sure, feel a connection to Mr.
Buckles and his comrades-in-arms,” Gates said. “We will
always be grateful for what they did for their country 90
years ago.”
Buckles, then 107, received a standing
ovation from the mostly military audience.
“I feel
honored to be here as a representative of the veterans of
WWI and I thank you,” Buckles said.
Buckles is
survived by his daughter, Susannah Buckles Flanagan. His
wife, Audrey, died in 1999. |
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In a White House
statement issued today President Barack Obama and First Lady
Michelle Obama saluted the fallen veteran.
“Frank
Buckles lived the American Century,” the President stated.
“Like so many veterans, he returned home, continued his
education, began a career, and along with his late wife
Audrey, raised their daughter Susannah. And just as Frank
continued to serve America until his passing, as the
Honorary Chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation,
our nation has a sacred obligation to always serve our
veterans and their families as well as they've served us.
“We join Susannah and all those who knew and loved her
father in celebrating a remarkable life that reminds us of
the true meaning of patriotism and our obligations to each
other as Americans.” | |
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2011
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