# Frank Buckles, last surviving American WWI vet, dies at 110. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923 "2011-02-28T15:05:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/1 "2011-02-28T15:05:58Z")
Here’s the story: [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/28/2011-02-28\_frank\_buckles\_oldest\_surviving\_american\_wwi\_vet\_dies\_at\_age\_110\_.html](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/28/2011-02-28_frank_buckles_oldest_surviving_american_wwi_vet_dies_at_age_110_.html) > [@](#): > > A chapter of American History has officially closed. > > Frank Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of World War I, died of natural causes Sunday at the age of 110 in his Charles Town, W. Va., home, a family spokesman said in a statement. Interestingly enough, he also did time in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/2 "2011-02-28T15:18:25Z")
You beat me to it. I came in to post the[CNN story](http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/02/27/wwi.veteran.death/index.html?hpt=T2). Mr. Buckle’s been the subject of a couple of threads the last couple of years, I think. There’d been some question about whether he’d make it to his 110th birthday earlier this month; glad he did. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/3 "2011-02-28T15:28:42Z")
R.I.P. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/4 "2011-02-28T15:47:57Z")
May God bless and keep him, and may we forever remember the sacrifices of his generation in serving the cause of freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/5 "2011-02-28T15:52:03Z")
I met him a few times in the last five years or so. He was quite a character, and what an amazing life. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/6 "2011-03-01T00:17:27Z")
And now that the last voice warning against it has passed, the stage is set for a similar insanity, yet to come. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/7 "2011-03-01T00:31:47Z")
This brought more than a couple tears to my eyes. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/8 "2011-03-01T00:57:29Z")
He had to have been so very young when he served. Did he have to have someone sign off to let him enlist, or did he lie about his age? My grandfather would have been 111 this coming October if he was still alive, and he didn’t have to go. ---
**Author:** ![Pops1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de053/32.png) [@Pops1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pops1963)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/9 "2011-03-01T00:57:29Z")
Wow R.I.P. indeed. Are there any WWI vets left anywhere? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/10 "2011-03-01T01:12:52Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > He had to have been so very young when he served. Did he have to have someone sign off to let him enlist, or did he lie about his age? My grandfather would have been 111 this coming October if he was still alive, and he didn’t have to go. [According](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buckles)to his wiki article; [QUOTE=Frank Buckles] I was just 16 and didn’t look a day older. I confess to you that I lied to more than one recruiter. I gave them my solemn word that I was 18, but I’d left my birth certificate back home in the family Bible. They’d take one look at me and laugh and tell me to go home before my mother noticed I was gone. Somehow I got the idea that telling an even bigger whopper was the way to go. So I told the next recruiter that I was 21 and darned if he didn’t sign me up on the spot! I enlisted in the Army on 14 August 1917.[6 [/QUOTE] I wonder if there are any Army or Red Cross nurses left alive. On one hand you’d think the last “veteran” would be a woman, but on the other hand any nurse sent overseas would’ve been at least in her early 20s. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/11 "2011-03-01T02:45:59Z")
I believe there are two more WWI vets still alive, both British. Mr. Buckle was… Quite a guy. Godspeed, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/12 "2011-03-01T05:01:20Z")
Even more on his life - fascinating, if all true: [AOL - News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/28/the-book-on-frank-buckles-americas-last-doughboy/) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/13 "2011-03-01T11:06:03Z")
> [@Moirai](#): > > I believe there are two more WWI vets still alive, both British. [Claude Choles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Choules) and [Florence Green](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Green). ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/14 "2011-03-01T17:24:06Z")
So it’s finally Over, Over Here, if not Over There. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/15 "2011-03-01T18:59:52Z")
Wow, what a guy. I would have loved to sat and interviewed him about the past. \*\*To think that he was already in his 60’s when Kennedy died. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Peter\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/16 "2011-03-01T23:42:24Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Wow, what a guy. > > I would have loved to sat and interviewed him about the past. \*\*To think that he was already in his 60’s when Kennedy died. \*\* [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.00923/transcript?ID=sr0001](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.00923/transcript?ID=sr0001) -should be a link to an oral history project interview from my grandfather 1896-2004. It wanders a bit, but has a few snippets I like. “No, we were just turned loose and some crazy guy that thought he was a captain would herd you here, herd you there, over here, had you going off over here, then you go a little more and you go back over there. We, we were nice guys, and I, we didn’t know beans, nothing. We just had to listen to what that crazy captain said.” Were you glad when the war was over? “And how. You know what that means? And how. And how. You know what that means? . . . If they never have another war that’s good enough.” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/17 "2011-03-02T05:38:13Z")
I used to work for a newspaper situated close to where Buckles lived, and we certainly wrote our fair share of articles about him. I always liked to imagine him sitting in his home, seeing a reporter coming up his front walk again, and saying to himself, “Aw, what is it THIS time? Another honor? Another old vet died? I’m gonna pretend I’m not home.” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/18 "2011-03-08T02:58:01Z")
There was talk of allowing Frank Buckles to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, but that’s apparently a wash. Story [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/06/wwi.vet.tribute/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/19 "2011-03-15T17:50:00Z")
Frank Buckles to be buried today: > **[Last WWI Vet Buried Today](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/last-world-war-i-veteran_n_835919)** > > Last WWI Vet Buried Today ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923/20 "2011-03-15T23:12:32Z")
I’m getting old. I can remember when the last few Civil War vets were dying off (around 1950). Actually, I am old. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-buckles-last-surviving-american-wwi-vet-dies-at-110/572923.md?page=2)