Frank Woodruff Buckles (born February 1, 1901) turned 107-years old today. Mr. Buckles is one of the last two known surviving American-born veterans of World War I.
The other surviving veteran is Harry Richard Landis — who turned 108 on December 12, 2007.
Very soon, there won’t be any men left from that generation or from that war. But today we still have two of those men left to honor.
And today I wish Mr. Frank Buckles a very happy 107th birthday.
________
On Veterans Day last year, the NY Times wrote a wonderful piece about Mr. Buckles:
Over There and Gone Forever
By RICHARD RUBIN
BY any conceivable measure, Frank Buckles has led an extraordinary life. Born on a farm in Missouri in February 1901, he saw his first automobile in his hometown in 1905, and his first airplane at the Illinois State Fair in 1907. At 15 he moved on his own to Oklahoma and went to work in a bank; in the 1940s, he spent more than three years as a Japanese prisoner of war. When he returned to the United States, he married, had a daughter and bought a farm near Charles Town, W. Va., where he lives to this day. He drove a tractor until he was 104.
But even more significant than the remarkable details of Mr. Buckles’s life is what he represents: Of the two million soldiers the United States sent to France in World War I, he is the only one left.
This Veterans Day marked the 89th anniversary of the armistice that ended that war. The holiday, first proclaimed as Armistice Day by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and renamed in 1954 to honor veterans of all wars, has become, in the minds of many Americans, little more than a point between Halloween and Thanksgiving when banks are closed and mail isn’t delivered. But there’s a good chance that this Veterans Day will prove to be the last with a living American World War I veteran. (Mr. Buckles is one of only three left; the other two were still in basic training in the United States when the war ended.) Ten died in the last year. The youngest of them was 105.
At the end of his documentary “The War,” Ken Burns notes that 1,000 World War II veterans are dying every day. Their passing is being observed at all levels of American society; no doubt you have heard a lot about them in recent days. Fortunately, World War II veterans will be with us for some years yet. There is still time to honor them. But the passing of the last few veterans of the First World War is all but complete, and has gone largely unnoticed here.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Almost from the moment the armistice took effect, the United States has worked hard, it seems, to forget World War I; maybe that’s because more than 100,000 Americans never returned from it, lost for a cause that few can explain even now. The first few who did come home were given ticker-tape parades, but most returned only to silence and a good bit of indifference.
There was no G.I. Bill of Rights to see that they got a college education or vocational training, a mortgage or small-business loan. There was nothing but what remained of the lives they had left behind a year or two earlier, and the hope that they might eventually be able to return to what President Warren Harding, Wilson’s successor, would call “normalcy.” Prohibition, isolationism, the stock market bubble and the crisis in farming made that hard; the Great Depression, harder still.
A few years ago, I set out to see if I could find any living American World War I veterans. No one — not the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or the American Legion — knew how many there were or where they might be. As far as I could tell, no one much seemed to care, either.
Eventually, I did find some, including Frank Buckles, who was 102 when we first met. Eighty-six years earlier, he’d lied about his age to enlist. The Army sent him to England but, itching to be near the action, he managed to get himself sent on to France, though never to the trenches.
After the armistice, he was assigned to guard German prisoners waiting to be repatriated. Seeing that he was still just a boy, the prisoners adopted him, taught him their language, gave him food from their Red Cross packages, bits of their uniforms to take home as souvenirs.
In the 1930s, while working for a steamship company, Mr. Buckles visited Germany; it was difficult for him to reconcile his fond memories of those old P.O.W’s with what he saw of life under the Third Reich. The steamship company later sent him to run its office in Manila; he was there in January 1942 when the Japanese occupied the city and took him prisoner. At some point during his 39 months in captivity, he contracted beriberi, which affects his sense of balance even now, almost 63 years after he was liberated by the 11th Airborne Division.
Nevertheless, he carries with aplomb the burden of being the last of his kind. “For a long time I’ve felt that there should be more recognition of the surviving veterans of World War I,” he tells me; now that group is, more or less, him. How does he feel about that? “Someone has to do it,” he says blithely, but adds: “It kind of startles you.”
Four years ago, I attended a Veterans Day observance in Orleans, Mass. Near the head of the parade, a 106-year-old named J. Laurence Moffitt rode in a Japanese sedan, waving to the small crowd of onlookers and sporting the same helmet he had been wearing in the Argonne Forest at the moment the armistice took effect, 85 years earlier.
I didn’t know it then, but that was, in all likelihood, the last small-town American Veterans Day parade to feature a World War I veteran. The years since have seen the passing of one last after another — the last combat-wounded veteran, the last Marine, the last African-American, the last Yeomanette — until, now, we are down to the last of the last.
It’s hard for anyone, I imagine, to say for certain what it is that we will lose when Frank Buckles dies. It’s not that World War I will then become history; it’s been history for a long time now. But it will become a different kind of history, the kind we can’t quite touch anymore, the kind that will, from that point on, always be just beyond our grasp somehow. We can’t stop that from happening. But we should, at least, take notice of it.
I’ve already told my wife that if the Patriot Guard Riders are invited to ride in honor of Mr. Buckles when he does pass — if it’s this year or in 3-4 more years — that I’m going. If it’s in West Virgina, I’ll ride to West Virginia. If he’s buried in Arlington, I’ll ride to D.C.
But I will take notice, and I’ll stand and pay my final respects.
When that happens, my friend, we’ll finally get a chance to meet.
Wish the PGR would let us “canyon carvers” join in, I’d be there too.
Happy Birthday Mr. Buckles, and thank you.
Frank,
I would like to wish you a very happy birthday and hope that you find yourself in a healthy and joyious state of mind. God bless you sir. I think that we will find a spexial corner in the here-after for those of us that answered the call,
Bobb
Rickman Tennessee
Curt — It’ll be an honor to ride and stand with you when that day comes.
N2L — You’re more than welcome to join and ride with the PGR regardless of what you ride — of even if you don’t ride at all. We have guys on every make and model that you can think of on our rides.
Robbie…really?
I was reading up on the requirements, I think it was PGR, and they said specifically a “Harley-Davidson type” bike. It was a few years ago, but I think it was PGR, or maybe just a local chapter.
A true Hero. Happy Birthday Sir.
I live in Kentucky and heard about Frank Buckles on the news.
Dear Mr. Buckles,
We read about you in the paper this morning, and on behalf
of our family, we would like to thank you for serving our great
nation. We are proud of your service. God bless you and your
family.
Sincerely,
Richard, Diane, Nathan, Katie
and Scott
Mr. Buckles-
Just wanted to say a quick Thank You. You are a true American hero in my eyes and the eyes of many i know.You must tell us what the secret to life is. You are a man that has seen one century come and pass, only to watch another.
God Bless
Mr. Buckles,
I’m only thirteen years old, and I would just like to say that you are one of the many individuals that have served our country with dignity and honor. I read in the newspaper of your story and want to say how much it means to me and others that you speak of your story and continue to influence young people like me to learn more of yours and others’ generations.
My Mother Phebe Dally referred to you as WOOD BUCKLES. I have two photos with you in them taken in 1916 at Walker, Missouri. I would like to get them to you. I need your address. Charles Foreman, RR#1 Box 167A , Walker, MO 64790
Happy Birthday Frank Buckles. We honor you greatly. My grandfather may have known you. He was Ambassador to France at the Great War conclusion and a major Red Cross organizer in Europe. His memoirs describe the enormous contribution made by you and your comrades.. Thank you.
Bill Sharp, Illinois
Mr. Buckles,
Sir, I thank you for all you have done for our country. I thank you for my freedom and for the freedom of my family. My husband currently is defending our great nation; and I am proud to say that we are, too, a family of great pride and appreciation for all that you have done. I am also proud to share a last name with a patriot such as yourself. Know that there are others carrying the torch. Thank you so much for your sacrifice!
I don’t have the slighest idea of how to do “blogs”, or, even know what a “blog” is, for that matter. Maybe I can figure it out to leave this message for Mr. Buckles. I thought that the mail box was for that. What IS it for anyway?
I also knew about him from a newspaper article from USA Today that a cousin in Louisville sent to me. It seems there are more Buckles out there than I ever suspected since there were so few males in our branch.
It would be an honor to be related to someone that was in the Service during the “War that would end all Wars”!
Dear Mr Buckles:
Your are a true American hero! Thank you for serving our country so nobly and selflessly. I’m so sorry you were held prisoner by the Japanese in the Philippines. I wish I had learned about you sooner. It would be such an honor to meet and personally salute you and to let you know that this country owes you a debt of gratitude for what you have done and endured.
May you have more birthdays to celebrate!
LIN BILDNER
in prison i worked on many jobs where frank was forman in camp
running armstong garbadge carts with prisoner power manila pi–
los banos-fresh water suplypipe line through banana plantation-
–digging fantasticly deep septic tanks (3 down the hill)–they successfuly accomadated the new prisoners needs with no problems
thank goodness, –locating cement old fence posts, they were conceald in underbush with brusted barbed that had to be removed before the post could beremoved to be carried then stacked in a neat pile. we never used them but theY disaperd for what jap use we didnot
know;——i have often thought it was nice to have frank as a boss rather than a disgruntled member ofthe kempitai.
herb shaw and i made cocanut oil in los banos and along with cap williams were very much instigators of the cocanut milk detail.menTioned by the laST OF THE NAVY NURSES WHO SAID THE STARVTION STARTED WHEN THEY SHUT DOWN THE COCONUT MILK DETAIL SORRY I NEVER LEARNED TO TYPE
SINCERELY BILL MITCELL
Frank,
For a guy who doesn’t own a T.V. how will you possibly get this?
You have lived such an amazing life. How did you cram it into such a small period of time? I’m a mere lad of 5o and a product of Harrison County also (dairy farm south of New Hampton). I am a school counselor and will try to pass on your love of reading to this generation. Or if you are up to another visit to Missouri we would let you do it yourself. I don’t put anything past you. Hang in there buddy, I fear they don’t make’em like you anymore.
ddk
Dear Mr Buckles:
A belated Happy Birthday to you. We also want to say God bless you and thank you for your service to our country. I am sending this on behalf of my husband who is one of your nephews…great or great, great…we aren’t certain. Mike’s dad was Ronald L Buckles who passed away in 2004. ‘Dad’ Buckles and my daddy both served in WWII. I’m always moved when I learn of someone who served in the same war as they did. But when I learned about you I was filled with great pride that my husband has a living relation who served in WWI. We are very proud of you and your accomplishments throughout your life. You are truly a great hero. We hope by your recognition as the last remaining WWI veteran that our country will never forget you and every veteran who has served in the military and is now serving to preserve our precious freedom. Also, that our leaders will remember why our country was founded and the freedoms for which the young men and women have fought…and those who have given their lives. May God’s richest blessings continue with you. mrb and clb in Goldsmith, TX
Mr.Buckles,
i have an American flag signed by vets such as Chuck Yeager,Hal weakley,Tex Hill,C.e Bud Anderson,Paul Tibbets and many of the Tuskegee Airmen i would love to have your name beside those names. Sir you are a GREAT AMERICAN. Thank you for all you have done.
Thank you so much,
Craig Baker
Gypheather@aol.com