Frank Buckles

Frank Buckles
Frank Buckles
	Buckles on March 6, 2008
Birth name	Wood Buckles
Born	February 1, 1901; Bethany, Missouri, U.S.
Died	February 27, 2011; (aged 110 years, 26 days); Charles Town, West Virginia, U.S.
Buried	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	August 1917 – November 1919
Rank	Corporal
Service number	15577
Unit	1st Fort Riley Casual Detachment
Battles/wars	World War I (soldier); World War II (civilian POW) Raid at Los Baños (World War II);
Awards	World War I Victory Medal; Occupation of Germany Medal; French Legion of Honor
Spouse(s)	Audrey Mayo (m. 1946; died 1999)
Children	1
Relations	Susannah Buckles Flanagan (daughter) ; James C. Buckles (father); Theresa J. Buckles (mother); Robert Buckles (English ancestor, b. 1702); Navy Lt. Robert Buckles (Distant relative)
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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. 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 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.

^ "Honorable Discharge". United States Army. Library of Congress. November 13, 1919. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
^ Smith, Vicki (February 8, 2009). "Last WWI veteran from US dies in W. Va". The Christian Science Monitor. Christian Science Publishing Society. Retrieved April 3, 2011.

[discharge-1] "Honorable Discharge". United States Army. Library of Congress. November 13, 1919. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2012.

[2] Smith, Vicki (February 8, 2009). "Last WWI veteran from US dies in W. Va". The Christian Science Monitor. Christian Science Publishing Society. Retrieved April 3, 2011.

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