Frank Buckles at the White House
Posted in Current Events by John E. Pannell on March 6th, 2008 at 11:36 am “In the joyousness of high spirits, it is easy for us to forget the dead.”
– Ernie Pyle
Frank Buckles will be at the White House today for a special event. Now you may ask, “Who is Frank Buckles?” Scouts working on the Citizenship in the Nation or the American Heritage merit badges pay special attention.
Mr. Buckles is the last surviving American verified veteran of Word War I. He’s now 107 and lied about his age to enlist in the US Army. Buckles also served in WWII and was a civilian prisoner of war in the Philippines during that conflict. He will be at the White House today to attend an unveiling of WWI veteran portraits.
The Virginian-Pilot has coverage of today’s event on their website.
His biography is on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buckles
There is a second American who is a WWI veteran, but he was a Canadian citizen during that war, becoming an American in 1946.
Worldwide, according to Wikipedia, there are now only 14 verified veterans of this war surviving ). Australia and the UK have the most with three each. There is one left surviving in Turkey who fought for the Ottoman Empire. The lone German fought for Austria-Hungary and not the German Empire.
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