WWI veterans were the greatest influences on me as a boy. The stories of war brought back by my grandfather and my great uncles...stories which forever made it impossible for me to see any “glory” in war, are as clear to me today as they were 50+years ago. They were, and are, all my heroes. I have pictures of them where I am sitting right now and also an autographed picture of another hero of mine from that war, Graf Felix von Luckner, commander of the Imperial German commerce raider Seeadler, who managed to sink thousands of tons of Allied shipping at the loss of only one life. Quite a man.
My wife told me of the passing of Mr. Buckles first thing this morning. It made for a sad day....
From the other side.
I have a wonderful letter from my great uncle Willy (Wilhelm Frederich); as aposed to another great uncle (Frederich Wilhelm); to my greatgrandmother.
He was in training at Ft Knox, and was hoping to get a leave to return to Covington on the train before he went to save france.
He recounted to her that he was being trained by a french officer who had so many medals, he “looked like he had come out of a foundry”.
I don’t know if he managed to get home on leave.
But I do know that he managed to save france.
Plus these veterans were part of an era in which, the REAL 20th century began, and the REAL 19th century ended, that of the era of WWI. Also that was when old empires ended and nations as we know of today, emerged as well.