The Last American Veteran of World War I

Left: Frank Buckles' enlistment photo into the U.S. Army. Right: Mr Buckles signs a World War One era ambulance corps helmet after receiving the Legion of Honor at the French Embassy in Washington in 2008. Photo: AP/REUTERS

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The last American veteran of World War I was Frank Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia? Born Frank Woodruff Buckles on February 1, 1901, on a farm near Bethany, Missouri, Buckles lied about his age when he enlisted in the Marine Corps under serial number 15577 on August 14, 1917 at age 16 after repeatedly rejected by military recruiters. He sailed for England in December 1917 aboard the Carpathia, (the same ship that helped save survivors of the Titanic’s sinking in 1912), and served as a corporal for the American Expeditionary in France in 1918, including Bordeaux, driving military ambulances. After the Armistice, Buckles escorted German POWs back to their homeland, then returned to the United States and later worked in the Toronto office of the White Star shipping line. He traveled widely over the years, working for steamship companies, and it was while he was on business in Manila, Philippines when he was captured by the Japanese troops and spent three years in a prison camp where he lost more than 50 pounds before being liberated by an American airborne unit in February 1945. After retiring from steamship work in the mid-1950s, Buckles ran a cattle ranch in Charles Town, (he was still riding a tractor there at age 106). In April 2007, Buckles was identified by the Department of Veterans Affairs as one of the four known survivors among the more than 4.7 million Americans who had served in the armed forces of the Allied nations from April 6, 1917, when the United States entered World War I, to Nov. 11, 1918, the date of the armistice. The US government has awarded him the World War I Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, while France bestowed upon him the French Legion of Honor medal. Remembered as "The Last Torchbearer" of WWI, Frank Buckles died of natural causes at aged 110 on February 27, 2011 at his farm in West Virginia. He is survived by his daughter, Susannah Flanagan. His wife, Audrey, died in 1999.

Photo credit: telegraph.co.uk