Last US veteran of World War I dies (at 110)

AFP via Google News ^ | 28 February 2011 | Carlos Hamann

[Racehorse]

The last US veteran of World War I, who lied about his age to join the army in 1917, has died at the age of 110, ending America's living connection with the Great War.

The indomitable Frank Buckles, who also survived three years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, died peacefully of natural causes early Sunday in his home near Charles Town, West Virginia, CNN said, quoting a family spokesman.

Buckles celebrated his 110th birthday on February 1, but his family said his health had been failing since late last year.

Born in the Midwestern state of Missouri in 1901, Buckles rushed to enlist when the United States entered the war in April 1917 after reading about the conflict in the newspapers.

The marines and the navy turned him down because he was only 16, but Buckles managed to convince the army recruiter he was 21.

Some 4.7 million Americans fought in World War I, the vast majority in the American Expeditionary Force that sailed to Europe under the command of General John "Blackjack" Pershing.

When the Americans entered the war, begun in 1914, Russia was on the verge of collapse, thousands had been slaughtered in the trenches on the western front, mutinies were breaking out in the French army, and German submarines were taking a heavy toll on allied shipping. By the time the shooting ended on November 11, 1918, some 8.5 million people had died.

[Racehorse]

Salute!

[Strk321]

Ahem. There have already been 4-5 thread on FR about this.

[ExGeeEye]

First and only one I’ve seen. Thanks, Racehorse, for posting it.

[rlmorel]

I hadn’t seen it either; thanks for posting it. God rest his soul...he deserves it.

[Loud Mime]

God Bless this man.

[major-pelham]

It was supposed to be the war to end all wars due to it’s grotesque brutality and disregard for human life. If you ever happen to see the documentary resolving to determine who the last to die really was - never will the stupidity of war or the acts of particular participants shock you more. Hopefully they got lots of oral history from this man before he passed. RIP.

[Nooseman]

Salute .musta been the mustard gas what kept him goin.

[Celtic Conservative]

My grandfather tried to lie about his age too to serve in WWI. Would've gotten away with it, too. But his mother came down to the train station took him bodily off the troop train and dragged him home by his ear!

Walt Disney lied about his age to joim the red cross ambulance corps. He got overseas just after the war ended.

CC

[screaming eagle2]

RIP,soldier.You earned it

[naturalman1975]

If I may share the last few lines of an Australian soldiers song in tribute here:

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But as year follows year more old men disappear
Some day no one will march there at all

[Arcy]

Hopefully, he died in good spirits and not with a broken heart, which would likely be the case if he looked around at what the liberals have done to the country he was fighting for.

[Allthegoodusernamesaregone]

Ahem. There have already been 4-5 thread on FR about this.
It's about our veterans. It doesn't matter if there are hundred threads about this hero.

[Pegita]

Another chapter in our National History has closed ... may God rest the soul of Frank Buckles.

TAPS

Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest
God is nigh.

Fading light dims the sight
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright
From afar, drawing near
Falls the night.

Thanks and praise for our days
Neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky
As we go, this we know
God is nigh.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I can’t think of worse duty than being a Medical Corpsman in the great slog that was WWI. Nor one more valuable to his comrades and his country. Rest in Peace, Cpl. Buckles.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Reading through the article, he was also a civilian internee in the Philippines during WWII. I had an uncle who was a Catholic Priest interned in that very camp. I wonder if they knew each other?

[TShaunK]

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

[jimt]

Thanks for the post. First time I saw it.

[dfwgator]

From Lemmy of Motorhead

1916

16 years old when I went to war,
To fight for a land fit for heroes,
God on my side, and a gun in my hand,
Chasing my days down to zero,
And I marched and I fought and I bled and I died,
And I never did get any older,
But I knew at the time that a year in the line,
Is a long enough life for a soldier,
We all volunteered, and we wrote down our names,
And we added two years to our ages,
Eager for life and ahead of the game,
Ready for history’s pages,
And we brawled and we fought and we whored ‘til we stood,
Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder,
A thirst for the Hun, we were food for the gun,
And that’s what you are when you’re soldiers,

I heard my friend cry, and he sank to his knees,
Coughing blood as he screamed for his mother,
And I fell by his side, and that’s how we died,
Clinging like kids to each other,
And I lay in the mud and the guts and the blood,
And I wept as his body grew colder,
And I called for my mother and she never came,
Though it wasn’t my fault and I wasn’t to blame,
The day not half over and ten thousand slain,
And now there’s nobody remembers our names,
And that’s how it is for a soldier.