Frank Buckles, the last American World War One Veteran died peacefully in his sleep at his home. He was 110 years old.
During WW1 he served as an Ambulance driver in Europe and spent 3 years of World War Two held captive in a Japanese POW Camp, having become a ships officer after the "Great War."
Buckles was an outspoken advocate for the renovation and repair of the D.C. WW1 Memorial.
There are now only 2 known WW1 Veterans still living, Claude Stanley Choules, in Australia (Royal Navy, 109) and Florence Beatrice Green, in England (Women's Royal Air Force, 110)
May he rest in eternal peace, knowing that when it mattered, he did make a difference.
One era dies and another begins.
CNN
Additional Coverage:
"In 2008, U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, W.Va., sponsored a bill to allow Buckles, upon his death, to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
"'Mr. Buckles represents the very best of this country — service, determination and patriotism. He has lived through some of the most historic events in American history, from the Great Depression to two world wars to the invention of the Internet,' Capito said in a previous statement."
Corporal Buckles body is at a Washington D.C. funeral home.
WTVR.com
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2 comments:
He must have been one tough customer to have survived 3 years as a POW of the Japanese
People seemed to be of much tougher stock back then, canuck.
Reading up on him, he didn't get married until after WW2 at the age of 46. His only child, the daughter that lives with him on their acreage in West Virginia was born when he was 54.
Yes, he was one tough old customer. The world could use more like him.
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