Frank Buckles lived an amazing and long life.
He joined the Army at only 16 years old to fight in World War I, and later as a civilian, working in the Philippines, was captured by the Japanese at the outset of World War II. He survived three hellish years as a POW at Los Banos POW Camp before being rescued in a raid by American forces.He passed away on February 27, 2011, at the age of 110.
Buckles was born on Feb. 1, 1901, in Bethany Missouri. He was the youngest of five children and the third boy in the household. His familys ancestry traced back to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. One thing that stood out, however, was that his family genetics were blessed with longevity. As a young boy, he remembered long talks with his grandfather who was born in 1817. His father lived to be 95, his grandmother 96. When he was young he had two aunts that told him to prepare himself for a long life. Both of them lived to be over 100.
When he just a teenager, his family moved from Missouri to Oakwood, Oklahoma, where Buckles went to school, worked in a bank and became an avid wireless operator. With the United States entering World War I, although he was just 16 years old, he tried to enlist. The war, which had started in 1914, was an important event, he remembered later. The world was interested in it. So, I was interested. The Marine Corps turned him down as being too small, sensing that he was underage; the Navy also turned him down ostensibly for having flat feet, also believing him to be too young. But the Army did not. An Army captain asked him for a birth certificate. I explained that when I was born in Missouri, birth certificates were not a public record, Buckles said. It would be in the family Bible. And I said, You wouldnt want me to bring the family Bible down here, would you? He said, Go on, well take you.' So, the U.S. Army hurting for manpower accepted the youngster and he joined on August 14, 1917.
Buckles underwent basic training at Ft. Riley, KS. After basic training, he was trained as a motorcycle rider and ambulance driver. Later in 1917, he was among the first Americans who made their way from England to France. He saw first-hand what combat in the trenches did to the men fighting there as he transported them to hospitals in the rear.
There was never a shortage of blown-up bodies that needed to be rushed to the nearest medical care. The British and French troops were in bad shape even guys about my age looked old and tired. After three years of living and dying inside a dirt trench, you know the Brits and French were happy to see us doughboys. Every last one of us Yanks believed wed wrap this thing up in a month or two and head back home before harvest. In other words, we were the typical, cocky Americans no one wants around, until they need help winning a war.
At the wars end, he helped transport thousands of German POWs back to their homeland. One German soldier gifted him with a belt buckle with the inscription Gott mit uns (God with us). It was a gift that he would keep for the rest of his life. Promoted to Corporal just before he was mustered out in November 1919, Buckles returned to the United States and took part in the dedication of the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri where he met the Commander of the American Expeditionary Force General John Pershing.
After the war, despite many veterans having trouble finding work, Buckles never was at a loss for one. He worked in NYC, Toronto, then took a job as a ships purser, and later he ran the Manila office of the American President Lines when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He and many other Americans, both civilian and military, were taken as prisoners of war.
Buckles was a POW for more than three years in the Santo Tomas and Los Baos prison camps. When I got down to 100 pounds, I quit looking at the scales, he said. Like many POWs, he contracted beriberi, a disease caused by malnutrition. To combat the disease, he led a daily calisthenics class for the POWs. I explained to them, he recalled, that were under severe circumstances, but you must keep yourself in shape for when the war is over.
On February 23, 1945, they were all liberated in a daring raid led by the Armys 11th Airborne Division and Filipino guerillas. All 250 of the Japanese guards were killed and the combined rescue force liberated 2147 POWs. Buckles had completed his second war and was now 44 years old.
After the war, he returned to the United States and married Audrey Mayo in 1946. The two bought a 330-acre cattle ranch in West Virginia. They raised a daughter, Susanah, and remained in WV. His wife died in 1999. He continued to drive the tractor on his farmland well into his 100s.
Gary Sinise and Buckles led the Memorial Day Parade of 2007; he was 106 at the time. He was later asked to visit the White House as a guest of President George Bush. Buckles thought that it was an interesting visit. I went to the White House and sat in the Oval Room, he recalled. And here came President Bush and he asked me: Where were you born? And I said, Thats exactly the words that General Pershing used.
Buckles became the honorary Chairman of the World War I Monument Committee and was an outspoken advocate for the dedication of a monument to honor the men who sacrificed so much during the Great War.
We still do not have a national memorial in Washington, D.C. to honor the Americans who sacrificed their lives during World War I. On this eve of Veterans Day, I call upon the American people and the world to help me in asking our elected officials to pass the law for a memorial to World War I in our nations capital. These are difficult times, and we are not asking for anything elaborate. What is fitting and right is a memorial that can take its place among those commemorating the other great conflicts of the past century. On this 92nd anniversary of the armistice, it is time to move forward with honor, gratitude, and resolve.
Buckles died on February 27, 2011, aged 110. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. As was noted by Paul Duggan, a reporter for the Washington Post:
The hallowed ritual at grave No. 34-581 was not a farewell to one man alone. A reverent crowd of the powerful and the ordinaryPresident Obama and Vice President Biden, laborers and store clerks, heads bowedcame to salute Buckless deceased generation, the vanished millions of soldiers and sailors he came to symbolize in the end.
See the original post here:
Frank Buckles, the last soldier to fight in World War I dies at 110 - SOFREP
- 001 Salk News Clip - Long Lived Fruit Flies (KPBS) - Video [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2012]
- 002 Seen At 11: Could The Next Generation Live To Be 150? [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2012]
- 003 Combating Aging's Ravages - Advances in Minnesota and France - Video [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2012]
- 004 Immortal worms defy aging [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- 005 Immortal worms defy ageing [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- 006 The 27th Colloque Médecine et Recherche of the Fondation Ipsen in the Alzheimer Disease series: “Proteopathic Seeds ... [Last Updated On: February 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 29th, 2012]
- 007 Biostem U.S., Corporation Continues Building Its Scientific and Medical Board of Advisors With Appointment of Leading ... [Last Updated On: March 19th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 19th, 2012]
- 008 Biostem U.S., Corporation Adds Jeanne Ann Lumadue, MD, PhD, MBA to Its Scientific and Medical Board of Advisors [Last Updated On: May 23rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 23rd, 2012]
- 009 Longevity Science: Unraveling the Secrets of Human ... [Last Updated On: May 19th, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 19th, 2015]
- 010 LongevityMap: Genetic association studies of longevity [Last Updated On: May 19th, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 19th, 2015]
- 011 Genetics and Aging - The Genetic Theory of Aging [Last Updated On: May 21st, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 21st, 2015]
- 012 To Measure Longevity, Common Sense Trumps Genetic Test [Last Updated On: May 22nd, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 22nd, 2015]
- 013 Scientists seek genetic clues to longevity from 115-year ... [Last Updated On: May 22nd, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 22nd, 2015]
- 014 Telomeres and Aging - Understanding Cellular Aging [Last Updated On: May 29th, 2015] [Originally Added On: May 29th, 2015]
- 015 Longevity genetics study retracted from Science | WIRED [Last Updated On: June 1st, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 1st, 2015]
- 016 Genetics of Human Longevity - Longevity Science [Last Updated On: June 1st, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 1st, 2015]
- 017 Longevity genes - Supercentenarian [Last Updated On: June 8th, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 8th, 2015]
- 018 Overview | Institute for Aging Research | Albert Einstein ... [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2015]
- 019 Genetic Improvement of Dairy Cow Longevity - eXtension [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2015]
- 020 Genetic determinants of exceptional human longevity ... [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2015]
- 021 Secrets of Aging, Long Life, longevity Genes [Last Updated On: July 11th, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 11th, 2015]
- 022 Fine-Tuning Your Longevity Genes | Life Code [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2015]
- 023 LonGenity and Longevity Genes Project [Last Updated On: July 31st, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 31st, 2015]
- 024 Biology of Aging | National Institute on Aging [Last Updated On: August 2nd, 2015] [Originally Added On: August 2nd, 2015]
- 025 Genetics, lifestyle and longevity: Lessons from centenarians [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2015]
- 026 Resveratrol By RevGenetics Resveratrol Benefits, Anti ... [Last Updated On: September 28th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 28th, 2015]
- 027 Genetics Articles - Bodybuilding.com [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2015]
- 028 Genetic Anti-Aging and Health: Creating REAL Results by ... [Last Updated On: October 24th, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 24th, 2015]
- 029 5 Ways to Prevent a First Heart Attack - Verywell [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 030 Genes Linked to the Effect of Stress and Mood on Longevity ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 031 SPH - Boston University School of Public Health [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 032 Power 9 - Blue Zones [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 033 Human longevity: Genetics or Lifestyle? It takes two to ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 034 Is Longevity Entirely Hereditary? - BEN BEST [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 035 Veritas Genetics - Committed to disease prevention, early ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 036 GENETICS: Is aging in our genes? - nia.nih.gov [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 037 Aging, genetics and longevity drugs - biopsychiatry.com [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 038 Longevity, how to live longer with diet, food, and dietary ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 039 Genetics of Longevity in Model Organisms: Debates and ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 040 The Okinawa Centenarian Study : Evidence based gerontology [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 041 Can Humans Live Forever? Longevity Research Suggests ... [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2016]
- 042 Genetics of longevity and aging. [Last Updated On: August 13th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 13th, 2016]
- 043 Genetic Secrets Of Longevity Discovered | IFLScience [Last Updated On: August 13th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 13th, 2016]
- 044 Longevity Genes Project | Institute for Aging Research ... [Last Updated On: August 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 15th, 2016]
- 045 Ageing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: September 6th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 6th, 2016]
- 046 Supercourse: Epidemiology, the Internet, and Global Health [Last Updated On: September 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 8th, 2016]
- 047 Population Reference Bureau (PRB) [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2016]
- 048 normande genetics: sustainable genetics that breed quality [Last Updated On: November 23rd, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 23rd, 2016]
- 049 Medical genetics of Jews - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 1st, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 1st, 2016]
- 050 Ashkenazi Jews - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 7th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2016]
- 051 Ageing - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 7th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2016]
- 052 Drosophila melanogaster - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 25th, 2016]
- 053 Lamarckism - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: January 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 5th, 2017]
- 054 68-Year Study: Childhood Intelligence and Longevity Related - Newsmax [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2017]
- 055 There's No Known Limit To How Long Humans Can Live | Time.com - TIME [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2017]
- 056 Could a High IQ Mean a Longer Life? - Sioux City Journal [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2017]
- 057 Researchers Find Genetic Mutation That Encourages Longevity In Men - Yeshiva World News [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2017]
- 058 Haifa U Researchers Find Genetic Mutation that Encourages Longevity in Men - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2017]
- 059 11 Basic Guidelines for General Health and Longevity ... [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2017]
- 060 This Study Could Help Extend the Human Lifespan - Futurism [Last Updated On: July 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 8th, 2017]
- 061 Sharks could hold genetic secret to long life: Study - The Hindu [Last Updated On: July 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 8th, 2017]
- 062 Longevity Genes Predict Whether You'll Live Past 100 [Last Updated On: July 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 8th, 2017]
- 063 Study probes Greenland sharks' secret to long life - NATIONAL - The ... - The Hindu [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2017]
- 064 Swiss-led research team identifies new life-expectancy markers - The Hans India [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2017]
- 065 16 Genetic Markers Linked to Lifespan | Worldhealth.net Anti-Aging ... - Anti Aging News [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2017]
- 066 Mutation explains why some men live to 100 - ISRAEL21c [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2017]
- 067 How to live old - The Sherbrooke Times [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2017]
- 068 The 16 genetic markers that can cut a life story short - Medical Xpress - Medical Xpress [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2017]
- 069 Health Shorts: Stem cell 'cures,' Sugar spike, Longevity - Sarasota Herald-Tribune [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2017]
- 070 23 People That Lived to 100 Spill Their Secrets of Longevity [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2017]
- 071 An extra dose of this longevity hormone helped make mice smarter - Popular Science [Last Updated On: August 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 8th, 2017]
- 072 EDITORIAL: 99%, My Life Sucks, Dogfighting, and Brady's Brain - GoLocalProv [Last Updated On: August 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 8th, 2017]
- 073 Genetic strategies to reduce gilt feed and development costs - National Hog Farmer [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2017]
- 074 Kahn Longevity Center [Last Updated On: August 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 19th, 2017]
- 075 Media's Anti-Aging Agenda without the Benefit of Scientific Evidence, Fact or Common Sense - Anti Aging News [Last Updated On: August 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 19th, 2017]
- 076 Genetic mutation explains why some men live to 100 - Jewish Journal [Last Updated On: August 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 25th, 2017]
- 077 This 23-year-old just closed her second fund which is focused on ... - TechCrunch [Last Updated On: August 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 25th, 2017]
- 078 Do Low Calorie Diets Help You Live Longer? - Healthline [Last Updated On: August 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 30th, 2017]
- 079 The 5 Aging Startups Backed by Longevity Fund - Nanalyze [Last Updated On: August 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 30th, 2017]
- 080 The Genetic Theory of Aging - Concepts and Evidence [Last Updated On: August 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 30th, 2017]