Frank Buckles had to tell a lot of stories before he finally got indoctrinated into the US Army at age 16.5. Neither the Marine recruiter nor the Navy one was buying his story of being legally ready. But he persevered.
In 1917 and 1918, close to 5 million Americans served in World War I, and Mr. Buckles, a cordial fellow of gentle humor, was the last known survivor. “I knew there’d be only one someday,” he said a few years back. “I didn’t think it would be me.”
Mr. Buckles, a widower, died on his West Virginia farm, said his daughter, Susannah Buckles Flanagan, who had been caring for him there.
Flanagan, 55, said her father had recently recovered from a chest infection and seemed in reasonably good health for a man his age. At 12:15 a.m. Sunday, he summoned his live-in nurse to his bedroom. As the nurse looked on, Flanagan said, Mr. Buckles drew a breath, and his eyes fell shut.
One hundred and ten years old, a veteran of The Great War and survivor of Japanese internment in World War II.
Dying in his own bed on his own farm with one last look at a nurse before he went.
That’s a good way to go.
Requiescat in pace et amore, Mr. Buckles.
Not a bad way to go at all. How he must have marveled at how the world had changed in his lifetime.
God bless, Mr. Buckles.
I sincerely hope he was through most of his glass of Bourbon at the time.
Rest his soul.
Have a well deserved rest in a better land, Mr. Buckles, and Thank You.
Earned it, he did.
+1
A survivor of two world wars , the great depression and disco music qualifies him as one of the greatest generation to be sure. How did he persevere?
“Mr Buckles’s secret to longevity: “When you think you’re dying,” …. “don’t.”
Recall that U.S. Navy ad: “If Someone Wrote A Book About Your Life …. Would Anyone Want To Read It?” The answer here would be yes.
What a great story of a very special man! May he forever rest in peace.
Also sorry Frank (y), “We hardly knew ye, hurroo, hurroo.”
Of the many, I was also impressed by very one of his many accomplishments, if my math is right.
If his 55-year-old daughter was kindly caring for him at age 110, doesn’t that mean he fathered her at age 55? Nice work, Mr. Buckles!
And nice work of your very special and faithful daughter taking great care of you too till the end.
[As a taxpayer who actually pays a lot of tax, I am proud to have financially supported Mr. Buckles' later life for the many years he enjoyed his long life of entitlements; his retirement benefits, Social Security, medical, and all other benefits.... unlike some others I know....]
They are not entitlements if you earned them. He did.
Flit, you just HAD to turn the death of this honorable man into one last dig, didn’t you?
I weep at your lack of grace.
Rest Well, Mr Buckles.
Flit, you possess all the class and wit of an obscene Christmas card. Not for the comment about the daughter, of course — I had a similar thought myself, considering him a man of no hurry and truly cherishing what he must know is a limited time on this planet.
But if you are so truly proud of supporting him, personally, could I see the check you wrote to him? It’s not exactly charity if the contribution is taken by a second from a third to assuage your conscience.
He volunteered, not only volunteered but likely lied under oath and faced a penalty to do so, precisely so he could contribute his share to the effort. What penalty would you face for paying too much in taxes? We too often think a colored ribbon on our car or lapel actually solves some problem, makes us think we’re curing cancer or visualizing world peace or supporting some cause we believe in. It does not. There are real people actually doing the research and the menial tasks and the fighting and all the other jobs associated with a team effort toward a common goal. For the rest of us, it’s writing a check and wearing a lapel pin.
In him we have seen volunteerism, and sacrifice, and a hope in the future far beyond that of the man who merely plants a tree or invests in some stocks or bonds or pays his taxes.
And it is my greatest fear that men like this will have lived and become forgotten as we focus on our editorial pages, our favorite websites, our reality shows and American Idol.
At least he’s not forgotten here, among us, though we are few.
– Max
I just came back in from spilling a libation for the man. I fear that I and a lot of people here will not meet him in the next life, depraved reprobate that I am and hardened cold-blooded killers that some of y’all are; I think he is being wafted Upwards, so to speak.
A 110 year old man who has a 55 year old daughter probably was a widower more than once I’m guessing.
About 5 years ago my wifes hometown of Frostburg Md (near Cumberland, MD, up in the mountains) had it’s own “Million Man March”…except this was a Fourth of July march down Main St. and it would be comprised of all Veterans and active duty. It was simply amazing to see the huge number of veterans that came from the mountains of Appalachia and the Allegheny’s. The parade of veterans lasted nearly an hour, and the highlight of the whole parade was none other than Frank Buckles. Mr. Buckles actually marched for a while (on the down hill side of the route!) before getting in the back of a jeep. It was a very stirring experience to be surrounded by these veterans of so many of our nations wars in a beautiful Norman Rockwell kind of town.
When I was 5 and 6 and the old man was in Vietnam we lived in Carlisle and we went to the 4th of July parade, oh yes. There were scores of doughboys most in those horseblanket uniforms marching and others seated on the benches along the High Street. All rose for the colors. Back in 1967 there were still an awful lot just as today there are still and amazing number of WWII vets. The last number I heard was that we’re losing them at a rate of about 1000/day.
In the enclosed picture, he looks more like a Boy Scout than a Doughboy….Damn, we need more like him in our country today.
I think it of note that he came from a farming family, as perhaps most did of that era. As a nation, we had not yet changed from the agrarian, extended family way of life. Both of my parents were raised on farms -my dad lied about his age to try to get into WWII, but he had to wait until mid-’44 to take his all expense paid trip to the ETO. For Dad, it was the “best of times, the worst of times”, with apologies to Mr. Dickens.
Franks web site: http://pershingslastpatriot.com/frank/ Will definitely see the movie.
I, like some others here, am old enough to remember living members of the Civil War. Buckles represented a link to an America that no longer exists. When the last of the WW II veterans die, that direct link will be severed forever, leaving only their Vietnam vet sons as a spiritual link to that lost corporeal world–floating now only as an ethereal one in their memories. This news just one more reason to weep for the future..
Virg, with respects, I’m going to offer that the Korean vets are very much the equals of the WWII folks – especially since so many were ‘retreads’. I tend to view both groups as as essentially the same generation.
My father was a Korean war vet. He passed on December 4, 1990. He would be 81 in two months had he made it.
They tried to make my Dad a Koren War Vet, even got him recalled to AD for a month or so before Dad’s appeal as a WWII Combat Vet (which is why they wanted him back in) with four kids dependent upon him finally came thru.
I did get a pair of white Mickey Mouse boots that he kept from his short-time recall. I never got cold feet in them, even with the worst weather that Michigan winters offered.
Rivetjoint, I would agree that the combat vets were -not so much in the beginning though. Our WWII Combat vetted army was pretty much lost in the short seven years from the end of WWI to Korea.
Similar to our troops in North Africa before and after the Kasserine Pass experience.
Ron:
As I have said elsewhere: proof-reading does wonders for one’s image.
Paul
Yeah, that peace dividend stuff never really works out does it? Endless political cycle.
VX,
I know what you mean.
In at 16.5 having willfully started earlier… we underestimate our youth, who buy us all the future.
What a life he lived. His internment at Los Banos, and the mission to rescue them, is a story in it’s own right.
Rest in peace, Mr.Buckles.
Here’s an article from WAtoday on the the last surviving male WW1 vet
The last one of 70m: Claude fought to live another day at 110.
JC