Buckles Posters 2

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Frank Woodruff BucklesLast Known American Veteran of World War I

Early Life in Missouri

Born on Feb. 1, 1901, Frank Buckles wasgiven the name Wood Buckles, which helater changed to Frank Woodruff. Buckles

lived on a farm, first in Harrison County,and later in Daviess County, Mo. In 1910,the Buckles family moved to VernonCounty, Mo, near the town of Walker.

The Buckles family moved again in 1915 toOakwood, Okla. Young Frank went to workin a bank at about age 15, while stillattending school. Though he has not livedin the state for over 90 years, Buckles stillconsiders himself to be a Missouri native.

Last Veteran

Frank Buckles became Americas lastknown living veteran of World War I onFeb. 4, 2008, upon the death of HarryLandis of Sun City, Fla. Buckles washonored in the oval off ice by PresidentGeorge Bush on March 6, 2008.

Currently residing in West Virginia,Buckles has outlived more than 4 millionother soldiers who served the UnitedStates during the War to end all Wars.Buckles visited his former home state ofMissouri for Memorial Day, 2008.

Frank Buckles received the Legion of Honor from French PresidentJacques Chirac at the French Embassy in Washington D.C. in 1999.

There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead ofus. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into themost terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to bein the balance. But the right is more precious than peace

President Woodrow Wilson:Address to Congress, April 2, 1917


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The First World War

Enlistment

Attending the Kansas StateFair in Wichita in the summer of1917, young Frank Buckles wantedto join the U.S. Army. Unable to makea recruiter believe that he was really 21,Buckles went to Oklahoma City where he

claimed that he couldnt prove his age sincehe had no birth certificate. The captain allowedthe 16-year-old to join up without further questioning.

Basic Training

After enlistment, the Armyordered Buckles to Fort Logan,

Colo. for basic training. While atFort Logan, Buckles volunteered for

the Army Ambulance Corps. He joined102 other men of the 1st Fort Riley Casual

Detachment at Fort Riley, Kan. for training inambulance driving and trench retrieval techniques.

It was with this unit that Buckles traveled to Europe.

President Woodrow Wilson asked the U.S. Congress to declare war onGermany onApril2, 1917. Thewar in Europe hadbeenraging fornearly3 years by this time and Germanys unrestricted submarine warfareendangered American shipping. Wilson asked that America enter thewar because ,The world must bemade safefor democracy.

Street scene of Fort Logan, Colo., ca. 1917.

The old, knowledgeable sergeantsaid If you want to get to Francein a hurry, go into the ambulanceservice because the French arebegging for ambulance drivers. soI applied for that .

Frank Buckles, 2007

1st Ft. Riley Casual Detachment, Ft. Riley, Kan., 1917.


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Journey to France: 1918

Frank Buckles sailed for Europe with the 1st Fort Riley Casual Detachment inDecember, 1917. He shipped out aboard R.M.S. Carpathia, the vessel famed for

rescuing survivors of the Titanicsinking in 1912. Buckles recalls meeting some ofthe crew who witnessed the Titanicdisaster.

R.M.S. Carpathia,The ship which transported Frank Buckles to England in December, 1917,

and was sunk by a German U-boat in July, 1918.

Gen. John J. Pershing was placed incommand of the AmericanExpeditionary Force sent to Europe.Pershing faced the enormous task ofmoving millions of men and tons ofsupplies from the United States toports in Britain and France.

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester, England

Frank Buckles landed in Glasgow, Scotland where he wasordered to Camp Hospital #35 near Winchester, England. Theyoung Soldier itched to get into the fighting. However, he wasforced to wait impatiently to be sent across the Channel toFrance. While in England, Buckles toured historic sitesbetween his duties of driving a staff car and a motorcycle.Buckles was so eager to get to the Front that he hatched a plotto steal away by surreptitiously falling in with a group ofSoldiers entraining for France.

I took three other men intomy confidence and at myassigned time, they were attheir place, but it was onetime I had been called out at

night and I didnt show up. Sowhen an hour came and Ididnt appear after a while,they fell in line and they wentover to France, the three men.In about a month they cameback, under escort. They hada trial and I think theyprobably got a couple ofmonths hard labor whichwasnt labor at all. So thatwas out.

Frank Buckles, 2007

I let any person who had anyinfluence know that I wanted to getto France.

Frank Buckles, Smithsonian2008

Across the Channel

Buckles finally sailed to France asan escort to an officer sometime in1918. He escorted the officer fromthe port of Southampton, Englandto Paris and Bordeaux.

This officer apparently needed theassistance, as he appeared to bementally unstable. Buckleswitnessed an extraordinary sightone night when his charge cameinto a room crawling on his hands

and knees, barking like a dog.

Buckles was eventuallyreleasedfrom his duty tothe officer. He later acted invarious support rolesbehind the lines (such asdriving an ambulance) forthe rest ofthe war.

It was a very primitive feeding system [aboard theCarpathia]. I recall watching fish heads beingbrought up from the hold [presumably for dinner].Frank Buckles, 2007


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Service in France: 1918-1919Map of Western Europe showing places where

Frank Buckles visited or was assigned.

German prisoners relaxing.

American ambulancesin France.

Assignments

The U.S. Army never sent Frank Buckles to the

front lines before the war ended on Nov. 11,1918. Like many thousands of other U.S.Soldiers in Europe during World War I, Bucklessupported the men in the trenches by doingvital logistical support work in the port citiesand distribution centers. The Army establishedthese important facil it ies along the coast atcities such as St. Nazaire and Bordeaux.

Recreation

Following the Armistice, Buckles was allowed totake leave in France. He and another Soldierdecided to visit the hotels along the coast ofFrance at posh resort towns like Biarritz andAres. They used cartons of cigarettes as

currency.

I went to the Ritz Carlton [in Biarritz]. I wasthere several days and I thought it was strangethat I got so much service, but I guess everyservant in the hotel came in to take a look atme. I knew it was an unusual situation to see anAmerican staying at the aristocratic hotel

German Prisoners-of-War

After Armistice Day, the Army ordered Bucklesto assist in escorting more than 600 GermanPOWs back to their homeland. He rode on atrain with these men from France into Germanyand helped guard the camps where they werehoused.

Sometimes Buckles guarded the prisoners onwork detail. One day, he saw another group ofGermans returning with their American guardfrom a day working in the woods.

I saw them coming back in the evening, thetwenty German prisoners. One of the Germansoldiers was carrying a rifle and another onewas pushing a wheelbarrow with [the] guardin it.Well, it had been a pay day and all you haveto have is a table and a chair and a bottle, andyoure in business. Frank Buckles, 2007

Paris

Bordeaux St. Sulpice

Winchester

Coblenz

German prisoners-of-war in Belgium.Ares

Biarritz

When we got back to our station, we had been AWOL , naturally, we weresubject to discipline. I told my story to the young lieutenanthe so enjoyedthe story, he said, I wish I could have done that myself. I didnt get anyfines, nothing on the record.

Frank Buckles, 2001

Frank Buckles remembers listening to GermanPOWs playing instruments in a spontaneousorchestra. The American Soldiers set up barrelsand boards to sit on outside the prison wire sothey could listen to the music.

German Orchestra


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Return Home: 1919-1920

The 138th Infantry is welcomedhome to St. Louis, 1919.

Meeting Gen. Pershing,

Feb. 10, 1920

In the winter of 1919-20, Gen. John J. Pershing made a tour of the United States. Inmany places he was celebrated as a hero of the war which had ended the previousyear. One of his stops was in Oklahoma City, where Frank Buckles attendedbusiness school.

Buckles learned that Gen. Pershing was scheduled to host a receiving line at theHuckins Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City. The young ex-Soldier decided to goshake hands with his former commander. Donning a dress uniform, Bucklesproceeded to the hotel and went through the receiving l ine. After shaking thegenerals hand, Buckles relates

AfterI passed Pershing, the General said to the sergeant that he wantedto talk to me. He was interested in my uniform, and where I was born.Well, I told him that I was born on a farm in Harrison County, Mo., itsjust

forty miles from where he was born. Well, in the conversation he wouldnote my accent. It was just the way people talked around Linn County.

Frank Buckles, 2007

Discharge from the Army

Frank Buckles returned to the United States on board thesteamship Pocahontas in late 1919. He was ordered toCamp Pike, Ark. to be discharged from the Army. For his2 years of overseas service, Buckles received $143.50,which included a $60 bonus.

Oklahoma City

Buckles returned to his parents home in Oakwood, Okla.following discharge. However, the now almost 19-year-oldworld traveler did not wish to remain on the farm.

The young veteran enrolled in business school inOklahoma City, where he learned clerical skills such astyping and bookkeeping. While in the city he would oftenattend a pool hall which other ex-Soldiers frequented.

When I came back, Idecided I was going tobe independent

I found that I wasassociating only with

Army men; I didnt talkto anybody if he hadntbeen in the Army.

Frank Buckles, 2001

After the Great War

Following graduation from businessschool in Oklahoma City, FrankBuckles went to work for varioussteamship companies in Toronto and

New York City. During the 1920s and1930s, he traveled all over the worldworking for shipping lines. He spenttime in such places as Europe, EastAsia, and South America.

The eve of World War II foundBuckles working for a company inManila, Philippine Islands, when theJapanese attacked Pearl Harbor onDec. 7, 1941. Unable to escape theJapanese military juggernaut;Buckles was interned along withother Americans and foreignnationals in the Los Baos prisoncamp on the island of Luzon.

World War II

Frank Buckles spent more than three years in Japanese prison camps in the Philippine Islandsduring the war. Although a civilian, he still suffered the deprivations of the Japanese guards,eventually wasting away to less than 100 pounds. During captivity, Buckles corresponded with awoman in California, Audrey, who later became his wife. Buckles and the other prisoners wererescued by the 11th Airborne Division in February, 1945.

Frank Buckles, photographed the day hemet Gen. Pershing in Oklahoma City,February 10, 1920.


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The Last Veteran

FRANK BUCKLES OFFICIALLY BECAME AMERICAS LAST

WORLD WAR I VETERAN IN FEBRUARY 2008

The Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Mo. was dedicated in 1926 as a monument toall the dead of World War I. It is the location of the National World War I Museum ,

which is Americas only official World WarI museum.

Frank Buckles,wearing his oldDoughboy uniform

on the 50th anniversaryof the end of World War Iin 1968 at Charles Town, W. Va.

Frank Buckles was the guest of

honor for the Memorial Dayceremony at Liberty Memorial inKansas City, Mo. on May 26, 2008.He met Sen. Kit Bond and otherMissouri dignitaries. This was hisfirst visit to Missouri in many years.

On Memorial Day 2008, Frank

Buckles returned to his roots innorthern Missouri by paying a visitto the boyhood home of his formercommander, Gen. John J. Pershing,in Laclede, Mo. Buckles later wentto see his old home in Bethany, Mo.

Buckles meets KipLindberg and his

young son, Jack, inLaclede.

Frank Buckles,wearing a bolo tie

featuring the portraitof Gen. John J. Pershing,

commander of the AmericanExpeditionary Force in Europe.

Buckles was greetedas a celebrity bymany people duringhis visit to Laclede.

Darrell Rottmann of Meadville, Mo. greets FrankBuckles in front of the Pershing Home StateHistoric Site sign in Laclede.

Susannah Buckles Flanagan, daughter of FrankBuckles, reads from a Congressional Resolutionoffered by Missouri Congressman Sam Graves.

Frank Buckles and his daughterwalk in front of Gen. Pershings

statue in Laclede, Mo.

Documents

Buckles Posters 2