America's Last Living World War I Veteran Dies

[clashcityrocker10]

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12601173


To sum up this link, Frank Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of World War I, passed away on February 27 at the age of 110. The only surviving veterans of World War I now are two British service members.

[soup567]

I heard about this earlier today. Very sad he died, but wow 110? He lived a very long, and hopefully a very happy life.

R.I.P.

[clashcityrocker10]

Hopefully this will spur the government to finally dedicate a World War I Memorial on the National Mall (there is only a small one in DC that has no official government recognition), but I don't know. He appeared in Congress in 2008 to push for one, but that went nowhere.

[soup567]

Yeah, I think that would be a good idea to make a big World War I Memorial. It's odd that we don't really have one already.

[clashcityrocker10]

Well, given that America was only in the war for about 18 months, and that compared to other nations, American casualties were a lot lower, I guess I can see why, but still, to say that the war didn't have an impact on American politics and society is foolish. I think it deserves a monument of some sort.

[Lawdog1521]

It deserves a monument. Aside from the reasons Clash mentioned it also changed warfare both tactically and the way it's precieved by the public.

RIP.

[darkwinterbeast8]

Sad news that he died. Hope he lived a long and enjoyable life (when not on the battlefields during WWI). Also agree that there should be a monument.

[clashcityrocker10]

darkwinterbeast reminds me that I should explain that Frank Buckles, in addition to the last two surviving British veterans, did not serve combat duty during WWI. If I'm not mistaken, they all were ambulance drivers, and the closest any of them got to the trenches was maybe about 30 miles. The last doughboy was British veteran Harry Patch, who passed away in '09, I think.

[darkwinterbeast8]

darkwinterbeast reminds me that I should explain that Frank Buckles, in addition to the last two surviving British veterans, did not serve combat duty during WWI. If I'm not mistaken, they all were ambulance drivers, and the closest any of them got to the trenches was maybe about 30 miles. The last doughboy was British veteran Harry Patch, who passed away in '09, I think.

Having mangled up soldiers in an ambulance and seeing the horrors of what the battle fields did to the doughboys was likely no walk in the park either

[clashcityrocker10]

Very true.