R.I.P. Frank Buckles, Last American Veteran of World War I
110-year-old Frank Buckles, who was the last surviving American veteran of World War I, has died of natural causes at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia. He'd been 16 at the time of enlistment, lying about his age in order to serve in 1917. He was an ambulance driver.
Buckles' U.S. Army enlistment photo in 1917.
"I always knew I'd be one of the last because I was one of the youngest when I joined," Buckles said in his interview with the Daily News, after he became the last surviving member of those 4.7 million."But I never thought I'd be the last one."
That interview was in 2008, when Buckles became the last surviving American vet after Harry Richard Landis of Florida died. R.I.P., Buckles (a great detail: The Times reports he was still riding a tractor on his cattle farm at age 104).
The documented surviving veterans of World War I are now down to two Brits: 109-year-old Claude Choules and 110-year-old Florence Green.
Frank Buckles, last surviving American WWI vet, dies at age 110 [NYDN]
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