He is the last living hero of an event which saw the beginning the "American Century": after Harry Landis passed away on February 4, 2008 at the age of 108, Frank Woodruff Buckles, 107, born on February 1, 1901, is now the very last of 4,734,991 Americans who served in the First World War between April 6, 1917 and November 11, 1918. 116,516 were killed.
An American Hero: Frank Buckles,last Veteran of the 1st World War. Photographs ŠDidier Pazery/Lightmediation Text ŽOlivier Morel Contact - Thierry Tinacci Lightmediation Photo Agency +33 (0)6 61 80 57 21 thierry@lightmediation.com
1506-2: The "Doughboy" Frank W. Buckles (in 1917 and many decades later) is America's last living World War I veteran. At home in 1998.
1506-3: Frank W. Buckles, America's last living World War I veteran, wears his old uniform. He is 107 years old and leaves in Charles Town, WVa. At home in 1998.
1506-4: Frank W. Buckles's detachment at Fort Riley. He is now the very last of 4,734,991 Americans who served in the First World War.
1506-5: Frank W. Buckles, America's last living World War I veteran, in uniform in 1917.
An American Hero: Frank Buckles, the last Veteran of the 1st World War. CHARLES TOWN, WVa. - He is the last living hero of an event which saw the beginning the "American Century": after Harry Landis passed away on February 4, 2008 at the age of 108, Frank Woodruff Buckles, 107, born on February 1, 1901, is now the very last of 4,734,991 Americans who served in the First World War between April 6, 1917 and November 11, 1918. 116,516 were killed. A living legend Frank Buckles saw his first car when he was a little boy around 1905, the first biplane around 1907. When he was born McKinley was president, and since, he lived under 18 out of the 43 presidents of United States history... Frank Buckles is an emblematic survivor of the 20th century. He enlisted at the age of 17. He walked into a Marine Corps recruiting office in Wichita and said he was 18. The recruiter didn't believe him and sent him away. The Navy rejected Buckles as flat-footed. Finally, an Army recruiter in Oklahoma City accepted him. He joined the ambulance corps because the French,
America's ally, were "begging for ambulances." At Fort Riley, Kan., he learned how to use his belt to cinch a wounded soldier to his back and carry him from a trench. He sailed from Hoboken, N.J., on the RMS Carpathia, the ship that had rescued survivors of the Titanic after it sank in 1912. He was in a hurry to get to the front. He eventually got to France in December 1917, but never was close enough to the action to pull anyone from a trench. In 1918, after the armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany on the 11th of November, Buckles stayed in Europe to escort prisoners of war back to Germany. He returned to the U.S. in 1920 but served again as a soldier during the Second World War: he spent three years as a prisoner of war in Japan. Despite of the considerable sacrifice of the country's soldiers in this conflict, the passing of the last few veterans of WWI has gone largely unnoticed in the United States. The first days of a war which started with swords and horses, trench warfare, then the first biplane dogfights are long gone, but this forgotten war was also the first total, industrialized war which marked the emergence of the United States as a superpower and designed most of the maps of today's world after the end of three Empires, the Ottoman, the Austrian-Hungarian and the Russian Empire. No official celebration for the last WWI soldier in the U.S. For now, the primarily privately funded World War One Museum in Kansas City, Mo., is the only national institution with plans to commemorate the end of the "Doughboy" generation, whereas Great Britain plans to hold an elaborate
ceremony at Westminster Abbey when the last of its three remaining WWI veterans die. Canada and France, which each have one remaining veteran, have also announced plans to hold a state funeral. Frank W. Buckles said recently that an official service honoring all veterans when he dies would be the "right thing to do" (Newsweek, February 9, 2008). Many of the 9.4 million who perished in this world war were "unknown soldiers," never identified: Buckles is the last known soldier in the U.S.
Last Surviving Vets Of American Wars Last Spanish-American War veteran: Nathan Cook died at 106 on Sept. 10, 1992, nearly 94 years after the war ended. Last Civil War Union veteran: Albert Woolson died at 109 on Aug. 2, 1956, or 91 years after the war ended. Last Civil War Confederate veteran: John Salling died at 112 on March 16, 1958, nearly 93 years after the war ended. Last Revolutionary War veteran: Daniel Bakeman died at 109 on April 5, 1869, nearly 86 years after the war ended. Source: Department of Veterans Affairs