Washington, DC World War I Memorial
Posted on 03/07/2008 6:01:33 AM PST by bahblahbah
Today, the 107-year-old Frank Buckles—the last known U.S. military veteran to serve during World War I— was honored with a White House visit and was made the guest of honor at a ceremony at the Pentagon where portraits of Buckles and eight other World War I veterans were unveiled.
“Mr. Buckles' mind is sharp, his memory is crisp, and he's been sharing with me some interesting anecdotes,” President Bush said during Buckles' Oval Office visit. “I asked him where he lived, and he said, that reminds me of what General Pershing asked me. And he told the General that he was raised on a farm in Missouri. And the General said, ‘Well, you know, as the crow flies, it's 40 miles from where I was raised.’”
(Excerpt) Read more at swamppolitics.com ...
God bless you, Frank Buckles, and I hope you live for many more years.
Wasn’t there a tradition that the last survivor of a group of guys who fought together would open up a bottle of champagne? Frank must have a whole cellar full of it.
God bless our aging soldiers. Living history. Appreciate them if you can, because once they are gone, we have to depend on others to write their stories.
"Now at 107, he is one of only two known World War I veterans still living in the United States. The other veteran, John Babcock, lives in Washington State and served with the Canadian military during the war. He became an U.S. citizen in 1946."
Great story.
I was just at the WWI Memorial in Washington DC and asked my friends if there were any WWI Vets alive. We all said no. I was shocked to see this post. It is incredible that he has survived so long. I am glad President Bush recognized him. Now they need to restore that old memorial in DC.
I think the point is that while Babcock lives in the US, he served for Canada, whereas our 107-year-old here is the last living American-military soldier. I know that there are several other soldiers from both sides of the war still alive.
I just found it fascinating to live at the same time as a guy who participated in a cavalry charge and fought with swords.
Washington, DC World War I Memorial
There are 14 veterans of WWI left worldwide. Five veterans have died so far this year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_veterans_of_World_War_I
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_of_the_First_World_War_who_died_in_2008
Great post. God Bless Mr. Buckles.
—God bless you, Frank Buckles, and I hope you live for many more years.—
I agree totally with that. It’s too bad that 110,000 of his buddies died in a conflict that the United States need not have been involved in (but Wilson was—literally—hell bent on getting us involved in); US presence in the Great War turned it from a stalemate into a victory over a relatively benign Hohenzollern German, and paved the way for the spread of Nazism and Communism later. No good deed goes unpunished.
What are you carping on about? The story clearly states he is the last known—KNOWN—US military vet of WW1.
Canadian soldiers living here now don’t count.
And why are you barking at the VA? First off, the VA wasn’t even around in WW1. Secondly, if someone of that age never applied for VA benefits, they wouldn’t know about him anyway.
*US presence in the Great War turned it from a stalemate into a victory over a relatively benign Hohenzollern German*
The relatively benign Hohenzollerns who sank our ships, attempted to entice our southern neighbors to invade and wreaked acts of sabotage on US soil? Those Hohenzollerns?
Yep, thats it. It is a nice monument, but it is stained and run down a bit. There are no signs directing you to it. It was treed in so it wasn’t easy to locate. I hope they restore it and add to it so it is more of a main attraction. Standing there really felt like you were stepping back into history.
—The relatively benign Hohenzollerns who sank our ships, attempted to entice our southern neighbors to invade and wreaked acts of sabotage on US soil? Those Hohenzollerns?—
The Zimmermann letter was a joke, perpetrated by an idiot German ambassador. Mexico had no military power worthy of the name, and it was torn by revolution. A letter of protest would have been retaliation enough. Yeah, our ships were sunk WHEN THEY WERE SENDING SUPPLIES TO THE UNITED KINGDOM, Germany’s enemy. The smart thing to do would be, if we insisted on supplying Germany’s enemy, would have been to use non-US flagged ships, thus no casus belli. But then, Wilson wanted a casus belli! As for sabotage, show me specific instances.
I discovered the WWI memorial by accident while walking from the Korean War memorial to the Metro station. To me, it’s a more appropriate tribute to our servicemen than that lugubrious Vietnam War memorial.
You get a sense of humility in the simplicity of the memorial. I liked that, but they need to do a bit more, if not to just keep it looking nicer. But, yes, it is a very appropriate tribute that seems to set the right mood.
Obviously you are either naive, ignorant or an Imperial German apologist. Perhaps all three.
If any modern Government tried to get the Mexicans or even the Canadians to invade the US, right now, you’d advocate going to war with them, I’m sure. The matter of either country’s inability to actually do so is irrelevant.
As for sending “supplies” to the UK—the USA sold materiel to *both* sides in the Great War.
As for instances of German sabotage in America, try reading sometime...here’s a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion
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