Frank Buckles, the last known surviving World War 1 veteran passed away at his home in West Virginia.
His birth name was simply Wood Buckles. He honored an uncle when the Army insisted he had to have a middle name by declaring he was Frank Woodrow Buckles. Silly Missourians.
Certainly a loss for us all.
According to Wiki, there are two veterans left, both from the Allies.
Claude Stanley Choules (born 3 March 1901) is, at age 109, the last confirmed World War I veteran in the world. Between World Wars, he relocated to Australia and served in their navy during World War II. He retired to Perth in 1956. Choules' daughter Daphne has reported that his health is declining and is no longer able to give interviews. He is almost totally blind and deaf.
Florence Beatrice Green (née Patterson) (born 19 February 1901), at age 110, is the last known female veteran of the First World War, Green joined the Women's Royal Air Force in September 1918 at the age of 17, where she served as a waitress in the officers' mess at two airbases. She lives in King’s Lynn, north of London near the North Sea coast.
There is apparently one more, a Polish veteran, but he enlisted after the Armistice, but before the Treaty of Versailles, so he is not a combat veteran of WW I.
not to burst your bubble or anything BUT I believe you missed something.
Last WWI Veteran Dies. - J. Penry, 2011-02-28, 08:44
Of course many might opine that Mr. Buckles is deserving of two separate threads.;-)
