Frank Buckles

Several family members lived long lives; he remembered speaking with his grandfather who was born in 1817, and his father lived to be 94.

His ancestry included soldiers of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

Frank Woodruff Buckles (born Wood Buckles, February 1, 1901 – February 27, 2011) was a United States Army corporal and the last surviving American military veteran of World War I.

Buckles was born to James Clark Buckles, a farmer, and Theresa J. Buckles (née Keown) in Bethany, Missouri, on February 1, 1901.

He had two older brothers, Ashman and Roy, and two older sisters, Grace and Gladys.

In 1903, Frank—then known as Wood—and his brother Ashman contracted scarlet fever.

Frank survived, but Ashman died from the disease aged four.

Between 1911 and 1916, Buckles attended school in Walker, Missouri.

Later, he and his family moved to Oakwood, Oklahoma, where he continued his schooling and worked at a bank.

He was an amateur wireless operator, and an avid reader of newspapers.

Five months after the American entry into World War I, Buckles sought to enlist in the armed forces.

He was turned down by the Marine Corps for being too small, and by the Navy, which claimed that he had flat feet.

He fared better with the Army, which accepted that he was an adult even though he looked no older than his 16 years.

A sergeant advised that a middle initial would be helpful, so he adopted his uncle's name, "Frank Woodruff Buckles".

Another sergeant suggested that the quickest way to the front lines would be to seek a position driving ambulances.

Later that year, he embarked for Europe aboard the RMS Carpathia, famous for rescuing the survivors of Titanic in 1912, which was being used as a troop ship.

During the war, Buckles drove ambulances and motorcycles for the Army's 1st Fort Riley Casual Detachment, first in England and then France.

He later recalled his service as a Doughboy:

"There was never a shortage of blown-up bodies that needed to be rushed to the nearest medical care. The British and French troops were in bad shape – even guys about my age looked old and tired. After three years of living and dying inside a dirt trench, you know the Brits and French were happy to see us 'doughboys.' Every last one of us Yanks believed we'd wrap this thing up in a month or two and head back home before harvest. In other words, we were the typical, cocky Americans no one wants around, until they need help winning a war."

Buckles saw the war's impact on malnourished children in France, and more than 80 years later he could remember helping to feed them.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 aged 16 and served with a detachment from Fort Riley, driving ambulances and motorcycles near the front lines in Europe.

During World War II, then aged 40, he was captured by Japanese forces while working in the shipping business, and spent three years in the Philippines as a civilian prisoner.

After the war, Buckles married in San Francisco and moved to Gap View Farm near Charles Town, West Virginia.

A widower at age 98, he worked on his farm until the age of 105.

In his last years, he was honorary chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation.

As chairman, he advocated the establishment of a World War I memorial similar to other war memorials in Washington, D.C. Toward this end, Buckles campaigned for the District of Columbia War Memorial to be renamed the National World War I Memorial.

He testified before Congress in support of this cause, and met with President George W. Bush at the White House.

Buckles enlisted on August 14, 1917, and went through basic training at Fort Riley in Kansas.

After the Armistice in 1918, Buckles escorted prisoners of war back to Germany.

One German prisoner gave him a belt buckle inscribed "Gott mit uns", which he kept for the rest of his life.

Buckles was promoted to corporal on September 22, 1919.

Following an honorable discharge in November 1919, he returned to the United States aboard USS Pocahontas (ID-3044).

Early in the interwar period, he attended the dedication of the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, in honor of the Americans who died in World War I, and met General of the Armies John Pershing, who commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during the war.

Buckles then attended business school in Oklahoma City, and found work at a shipping company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

From 1922 to 1923, he served with the Seventh Regiment of the New York National Guard in New York City where he also worked in financial services.

Next came a career as chief purser on cargo and passenger ships travelling to South America, Europe, and Asia.

In the 1930s, German and British passengers expressed fears about the Nazis, and military officers told him that Germany was equipping for war.

Buckles witnessed antisemitism and its effects firsthand while ashore in Germany, and he warned acquaintances in Germany that their country would be brought down by Adolf Hitler, whom he encountered at a German hotel.

Buckles was awarded the World War I Victory Medal at the conclusion of that conflict, and the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal retroactively following the medal's creation in 1941, as well as the French Legion of Honor in 1999.

His funeral was on March 15, 2011, at Arlington National Cemetery, with President Barack Obama paying his respects prior to the ceremony with full military honors.