"I didn't think it would be me."

February 28, 2011 12:21 AM

R.I.P., Frank Buckles, last American World War I veteran, who just passed away at 110 years old. Previously.
posted by bwg (51 comments total)

"Because Mr. Buckles served just one hitch in the Army and returned from France with no wounds or medals for bravery, he was eligible under Arlington National Cemetery protocols only for inurnment in a vault for cremated remains. In March 2008, however, the Bush administration ordered a rare exception for an old corporal of the so-called war to end all wars, and for the passing of living memory.

"Mr. Buckles wanted a grave site at Arlington and a traditional white marble headstone. And he will get his wish."
posted by bwg at 12:25 AM on February 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

I guess that's what they mean when they say "end of an era."
posted by wierdo at 12:26 AM on February 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

I suppose that's another chapter of history which has slipped from living memory.

There were Revolutionary War veterans that lived to see the Civil War, Civil War veterans that lived to see World War I (and II), and of course World War II veterans who have lived to see today.
But now, there are no more US World War I veterans to see tomorrow.

A poppy and a . in remembrance of what he lived through.
posted by CrystalDave at 12:33 AM on February 28, 2011 [6 favorites]

Was just working on a FPP, so I'll add what I gathered here:

Perhaps it is time to revive the Frank Buckles World War I Memorial Act, which would restore and rededicate the District of Columbia War Memorial as a National World War I Memorial. Buckles visited the decaying D.C. monument in 2008, and in late 2009 spoke briefly before a Senate subcommittee in support of its restoration.

The short film There Can Be Only One features a 1988 interview Buckles gave about his service in the First World War, and also his imprisonment in the Philippines during World War II. He was a centenarian when he gave two interviews for the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project. Funding is now being sought for a full-length documentary film about Buckles titled Pershing's Last Patriot.

posted by Knappster at 12:35 AM on February 28, 2011 [9 favorites]

Wow. I have a vivid memory of being roughly 10 years old and asking my mom if there were many WW1 vets still alive, and she assured me that the day the last one died, I would notice it in headlines immediately.
Not being American, I looked up the list of surviving veterans and it's amazing to see that there's only two, both from the UK (one lives in Australia). A third 'unverified' vet in Poland.
I still managed to miss the last Canadian passing, a little over a year ago.

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posted by mannequito at 12:38 AM on February 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

CrystalDave: There were Revolutionary War veterans that lived to see the Civil War

What? Those wars were 80+ years apart, putting any veterans of the Revolutionary war in at least their mid/late 90's by the time the Civil War rolled around. Not a lot of folks lived to that age back then. Are you sure about this? Cite? Same goes for your assessment that there were Civil War vets around for WW2.
posted by item at 12:43 AM on February 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

...which I meant to say is slightly more plausible, I suppose.
posted by item at 12:44 AM on February 28, 2011

Union vet Albert Woolson died in 1956. Here's color footage of him.
posted by Knappster at 12:46 AM on February 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

Wow. Ok. And I just found this wiki page - apparently at least four American Revolutionary War vets lived until the 1860's. Crazy.
posted by item at 12:48 AM on February 28, 2011 [3 favorites]

At least a few Revolutionary War veterans lived to see the Civil War.
posted by Knappster at 12:49 AM on February 28, 2011

Infant mortality mostly brings down average lifespans. It's not outrageous to have some 90 year old war vets even back in the day.

. for Frank Buckles.

My grandfather just died too, he was pretty cool.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 1:13 AM on February 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

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posted by iviken at 2:08 AM on February 28, 2011

What? Those wars were 80+ years apart, putting any veterans of the Revolutionary war in at least their mid/late 90's by the time the Civil War rolled around. Not a lot of folks lived to that age back then. Are you sure about this? Cite? Same goes for your assessment that there were Civil War vets around for WW2.

Human lifespan sits on a normal curve, and its almost a statistical inevitability that a revolutionary war soldier would live to the civil war. It's not really surprising at all.
posted by TypographicalError at 2:14 AM on February 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

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posted by SuzySmith at 2:39 AM on February 28, 2011

My grandfather salutes him. As do I.
posted by pjern at 3:51 AM on February 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

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posted by Faint of Butt at 4:19 AM on February 28, 2011

Perhaps this post's previously was meant to go here. I mentioned Mr. Buckles last September in the context of veteran's benefits, which will continue to be paid to WWI surviving spouses and children for another 30 or 40 years.
posted by beagle at 4:49 AM on February 28, 2011

Wow. Thanks from France, and I hope you'll enjoy your afterlife as much as we've been enjoying living here since 1918.
posted by nicolin at 4:59 AM on February 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

(Previously)

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posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 5:00 AM on February 28, 2011

The story of Abraham from a poem by Milfred Owen set to music in the War Requiem by Benjamin Britten:

Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns,
Offer the Ram of Pride instead.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

He witnessed great and horrible things.

Requiescat in pace.
posted by meinvt at 5:20 AM on February 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

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posted by jquinby at 5:25 AM on February 28, 2011

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

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posted by fearfulsymmetry at 5:43 AM on February 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Robert Hughes: If you ask where is the Picasso of England or the Ezra Pound of France, there is only one probable answer: still in the trenches.

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posted by Joe Beese at 5:43 AM on February 28, 2011 [9 favorites]

I had the privilege of spending some time with him at his farm in September 2009 and had a photo taken with him that I treasure. When I told him I was from New York State, he relayed details of a Revolutionary War commemoration he attended in Oriskany in the 1970s. I shot some video of him and got goosebumps hearing him talk about meeting Carpathia crew who told him about their Titanic rescue.

He was driving himself to his appointments past the age of 100, and he walked his daughter down the aisle at age 98. She is only about 53 or 54.

Rest in peace, Frank.
posted by jgirl at 6:02 AM on February 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

Wow, what an amazing life.

Thanks for posting this.
posted by Leta at 6:03 AM on February 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Perhaps it is time to revive the Frank Buckles World War I Memorial Act, which would restore and rededicate the District of Columbia War Memorial as a National World War I Memorial.

I think you will find this is an unpalatable idea to most DC-ites who care at all. Granted, the thing is falling apart. But it was built and paid for by the people of DC to remember the people of DC who fell in WWI [it listed women and African-American men with whites together which was A THING when it was built in 1931] and whenever this comes up they tend to get their backs up and see it as a method on-the-cheap for Congress to get a US WWI Memorial while wiping out the history of DC's contribution and memorial to said war.
posted by atomicstone at 6:27 AM on February 28, 2011 [5 favorites]

I think you will find this is an unpalatable idea to most DC-ites who care at all. Granted, the thing is falling apart. But it was built and paid for by the people of DC to remember the people of DC who fell in WWI [it listed women and African-American men with whites together which was A THING when it was built in 1931] and whenever this comes up they tend to get their backs up and see it as a method on-the-cheap for Congress to get a US WWI Memorial while wiping out the history of DC's contribution and memorial to said war.

Most, sadly, do not care, and many don't even know what it is IF they know it is there. The only local objection we are aware of is the one from the D.C. "shadow" senator. D.C. congressional representative, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, supports it.

The National Park Service opposes it, which is a much bigger obstacle.
posted by jgirl at 6:41 AM on February 28, 2011

D.C.'s
posted by jgirl at 6:41 AM on February 28, 2011

Furiousgeorge, your grandfather sounded amazing. I can only imagine what his workshop is like. Sorry for your family's loss.
posted by Sreiny at 6:57 AM on February 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

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posted by buzzman at 7:42 AM on February 28, 2011

I think you will find this is an unpalatable idea to most DC-ites who care at all. Granted, the thing is falling apart. But it was built and paid for by the people of DC to remember the people of DC who fell in WWI [it listed women and African-American men with whites together which was A THING when it was built in 1931] and whenever this comes up they tend to get their backs up and see it as a method on-the-cheap for Congress to get a US WWI Memorial while wiping out the history of DC's contribution and memorial to said war.

If nothing else, it's a fitting tribute to a war as horrific as WWI. I hate the encroachment of DC by the federal government as much as the next guy, and am a bit surprised that EHN supports the takeover, but....it's a nice monument, and perhaps the re-dedication would give it a bit more "purpose." I could think of much worse things to do. (Coincidentally, we're going to need to start having a conversation about "retiring" or moving various memorials from the mall. They're running out of space, and certain historical figures/conflicts have faded from memory. Also, we need to stop memorializing every damn thing -- the proposed Eisenhower memorial is particularly baffling.)

There are two memorials in Washington, DC that make me sick to my stomach -- the Vietnam memorial, because it's a poignant reminder of just how bloody and horrific that conflict was; and the World War II memorial, because those horrors were completely glossed over, in favor of an extravagant monument, complete with soaring eagles, a huge fountain, and a variety of pro-American imagery that was completely irrelevant to the war.

. × 37,000,000
posted by schmod at 8:09 AM on February 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

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posted by clavdivs at 8:26 AM on February 28, 2011

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posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:45 AM on February 28, 2011

Wait, Kirk Douglas was alive and well at the Oscars last night.
posted by organic at 8:55 AM on February 28, 2011

As the nation flexed its full military might overseas for the first time, he joined 4.7 million Americans in uniform and was among 2 million U.S. troops shipped to France to vanquish the German kaiser.

It's hard to understate the depth and breadth that the military played in previous generations because of WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Two million troops shipped overseas back then ... when the U.S. has "only" 1.5 million in uniform today, worldwide, and that's the second-most in the world.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:10 AM on February 28, 2011

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posted by wrapper at 9:14 AM on February 28, 2011

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posted by QuarterlyProphet at 9:38 AM on February 28, 2011

Coincidentally, we're going to need to start having a conversation about "retiring" or moving various memorials from the mall. They're running out of space, and certain historical figures/conflicts have faded from memory.

Uh, isn't the whole point of a memorial to place a sufficiently large piece of rock/bronze/granite/whatever in a publicly conspicuous place that the event memorialized won't be forgotten? At least for a very long time. I know I sure wouldn't want a memorial I campaigned for to bump some other memorial from it's place lest the same be done to mine a few decades later.

If there is anything that Bones has taught me it's that there appears to be copious space available in DC for memorials for centuries to come. Those sites may not be as prestigious as the Mall but lack of space isn't really a problem. Spreading these things around would probably be a good thing in order to prevent monument overload when viewing.
posted by Mitheral at 9:46 AM on February 28, 2011

Coincidentally, we're going to need to start having a conversation about "retiring" or moving various memorials from the mall.

Or creating a new "mall" or similar area for public use. D.C. is a pretty big place.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:53 AM on February 28, 2011

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posted by Lutoslawski at 10:14 AM on February 28, 2011

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posted by LobsterMitten at 11:04 AM on February 28, 2011

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posted by Hey Dean Yeager! at 11:07 AM on February 28, 2011

Or creating a new "mall" or similar area for public use. D.C. is a pretty big place.

There have been a number of proposals floated by the National Capitol Planning Commission and National Parks Service to repurpose the site of RFK Stadium as a national park, with space for a number of "less relevant" and "second tier" monuments.

Unfortunately, that creates a rather...sensitive situation regarding exactly which wars or historic figures are more or less relevant. For instance, there are (still) quite a few folks who want to put the MLK memorial as far away from the Mall as humanly possible. My crackpot theory is that the NPS quietly withdrew those proposals to avoid the almost-certain political shitstorm that would have ensued if they moved forward with plans for the mini-mall.

Coincidentally, it's now being built right across the street from the DC War Memorial in question -- although both are just "off the mall," they're a bit of a pain to walk to.

Also, don't forget that Washington DC is a city with actual residents You can't exactly just bulldoze a residential neighborhood for a war memorial, because "DC is a big place." A lot of us also really don't like the mall -- as far as urban parks go, it fails on a great many levels, and to add insult to injury, the NPS has begun discouraging large events from taking place there. I'm not sure it's a model worth "copying" elsewhere.
posted by schmod at 11:39 AM on February 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
posted by dhartung at 12:09 PM on February 28, 2011

I'm going to assume the "Bones" comment was being funny, because a) there's a shit-ton of random statues sprinkled through the city that only with the advent of smartphones have I been sometimes able to figure out who the heck they're in memorial to and b) that "space" on Bones is Los Angeles, not DC. Even the external shots of the "Jeffersonian" aren't of some building in DC, they're the LA County Natural History Museum.
We do have too many condos, though. And many of them have stupid names that sound like memorials or monuments-so maybe we can do a landswap.
But, really, you've just (unintentionally?) walked yourself into the sore spot most residents of DC have about the whole "not being a state" thing and the whole "the federal government isn't the only thing our city is about" thing which is closely connected to the "we cannot collect property taxes from all those god damn federal buildings or income tax form those freaking VA/MD commuters" thing, etc, etc.
So, uh, keep your damn memorials on the mall? Yeah, that got lost. And ranty. I think I stand by most of it?
posted by atomicstone at 12:41 PM on February 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

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posted by dealing away at 2:11 PM on February 28, 2011

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posted by ms.jones at 2:34 PM on February 28, 2011

atomicstone writes "I'm going to assume the 'Bones' comment was being funny, because a) there's a shit-ton of random statues sprinkled through the city that only with the advent of smartphones have I been sometimes able to figure out who the heck they're in memorial to and b) that 'space' on Bones is Los Angeles, not DC. Even the external shots of the 'Jeffersonian' aren't of some building in DC, they're the LA County Natural History Museum."

Ya, I was just lulzing based on a look around google maps and memories of that huge expanse of lawn at the white house. My non-articulated thought though was it is kind of weird to group a bunch of memorials together like some sort of open air art museum. Especially with war memorials which tend to heavily favour remembering the dead a huge grouping would make for a pretty depressing place. Really there isn't any need to even have these displays in DC.
posted by Mitheral at 4:02 PM on February 28, 2011

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posted by scody at 10:28 PM on February 28, 2011

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posted by Cuspidx at 7:12 PM on March 14, 2011

Yesterday's service at Arlington was beautiful. I nearly lost it when the Old Guard played "Goin' Home" as the coffin was removed from the caisson. The grave is within site of General Pershing's grave. FWB revered General Pershing and wore a bolo tie made with a Pershing medallion.
posted by jgirl at 10:04 AM on March 16, 2011 [1 favorite]