Nov 11 2008
Last WWI Doughboy, Oldest Vet, is 107 Years Old!
Last WWI Doughboy, Oldest Vet, is 107!
There is only one remaining American veteran of World War I. His name is Frank Buckles and he is 107 years old!
This man’s amazing life story is featured this month in the magazine of the Disabled American Veterans organization. (Highlighted text is a link to a .pdf file of the November/December issue.)
Frank Buckles joined the U.S. Army in August 1917, at age sixteen, by misstating his age and convincing the recruiter that the family bible contained the only record of his birth date. He was eager to get to France and into the War, so he volunteered for the Ambulance Corps. He got his wish. He was shipped out and soon found himself in Europe.
He survived, uninjured, but witnessed horrible physical slaughter and devastation.
Following the Armistice, on November 11, 1918, he helped to escort German prisoners-of-war back to their home country.
He spent many of the following decades at sea, traveling the World. Unfortunately, he was in the Philippines when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Although he was a civilian working for an American Shipping company, he was taken prisoner and spent three years in a Japanese prison camp.
Today, he lives on his 330-acre farm in West Virginia. He says that until just recently he did most of the farm work himself. This is a great story of one true American Hero.
Our nation remembered the courage and sacrifice of the veterans of World War I with the first Armistice Day commemoration on November 11, 1919. It didn’t become a national holiday until 1938. In 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor veterans of all wars. This year marks the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day and the end of World War I. It is both a federal and state holiday.
This observance is significant to Election Issues Today because returning combat veterans face increasing difficulty with adjustment to civilian life in addition to often suffering devastating and debilitating physical and mental injury. We must support the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Disabled American Veterans and a score of other veterans organization as they continue to struggle for adequate funding to meet our nation’s commitment to our armed services personnel, our sons and daughters (and grandkids), brothers, sisters, husbands and wives, who serve and fight on behalf of our country’s interests around the world and to safeguard our freedoms at home.
I’m glad you shared this today. I had no idea there was only WWI vet left. This kind of happened right under our noses, all of the vets passing away. Great example on why we need to record stories from our grandparents and parents for preservation.