Frank Buckles (02/01/1901 - 27/02/2011)
died last Feb. 27 in Charles Town, West Virginia, of natural causes at the age of 110, the last American veteran of World War I, Frank Woodruff Buckles Cape . Born in
Bettan, Missouri, Buckles was only 16 when the U.S. entered World War I in August 1917. He lied several times about his age - saying he had 18 - to enlist, but was repeatedly refused. Finally, he decided to tell an even bigger lie - saying he 21 - and this time the recruiter gave him a positive sign.
Buckles sailed for Europe even in 1917 aboard the RMS Carpathia - the same ship that rescued the survivors of the RMS Titanic five years before. Serving in England and France, Buckles became an ambulance driver and motorcycles along the Detachment 1, Fort Riley , and one of his missions lead, met the commander American forces in France, General John Pershing . When did the Armistice in November 1918, he spent escorting German prisoners of war back to Germany. Buckles was sent back to America and went to the reserve in 1920.
In 1940, Buckles went to work for a shipping company in Manila, Philippines. With the Japanese invasion the archipelago in 1942, he was sent to prison camp Los Baños, where he spent the next three and a half years. Buckles has lost much weight and contracted several tropical diseases, but maintained all along colleagues through an active exercise program. He was only released on February 23, 1945. After the Second World War, he moved to San Francisco and married there in 1946. In the 1950s, he retired and bought a farm in West Virginia, where he raised cattle. In February 2008, with the death of Harry Richard Landis , Frank Buckles became the last American veteran of World War still alive. In previous years, France awarded him the Legion of Honor , and he was greeted at the White House by President George W. Bush .
By completing 110 years old on February 1, 2011, Buckles attained the status of "supercentenarians ," and even gave interviews. He will be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. With his death, there are only two veterans of World War still alive: Florence Green (110 years) and Claude Choule (109 years).
Frank Buckles at 107 years old.
See also:
>> Death Note: Harry Patch
>> Death Note: Henry Allingham
>> Death Note: Bill Stone
>> Death Note: Delfino Borroni
>> Death Note: Dr. Erich Kästner
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