Death of last US "overseas veteran"

[4thGordons]

Just ran accross this from a week or so ago. I didn't see any coverage anywhere else

Article indicates there are a couple of WWI era soldiers remaining but no other members of the AEF.

ARTICLE

[rbrauerei]

Thanks for the post and remembering the Yank.

I found this link several days ago:

http://www.answers.com/topic/veterans-of-t...ho-died-in-1999

Like everything on the internet, the info should be verified, but it's a solemn reminder that the veterans of the Great War are becoming quite few across the world. Mr. Ramsey is listed among the "still living" on this link, but it seems to have been last updated around Jan '07.

[bradley]

a poignant moment for sure....on this kind of subject the day harry patch goes,all the photographs of our infantry in the great war will give us a sense of loss also

[BottsGreys]

The article in the link is indeed wrong in saying that none of the remaining American vets served overseas. Our local WWI veteran, Frank Buckles, served in England and France. He did not have a combat role, but served in the Ambulance Corps. He turned 106 on February 1, 2007.

Chris

This interview was done several years ago:

Frank Buckles , of Charles Town, W. Va., will turn 103 on Feb. 1. He still runs a 330-acre cattle farm, mows his hay fields with a pair of John Deere tractors and had plenty to say about the Great War.

The Missouri farm boy enlisted in the Army at age 16 in July 1917. "I asked an old sergeant the quickest way to get to France, and he said go into the Ambulance Corps. So I did," Buckles recalled by phone Wednesday from Gap View Farm, about 90 miles from Washington, D.C.

"We were unassigned, so my unit replaced a unit of the Sixth Marines operating the No. 35 camp hospital in Winchester, England. After some time, I talked my way into a company that was going to France.

"I never fought in the trenches or got to the front, but I saw a lot and dealt with a lot of casualties. The French people were in mourning, and there was a lot of sadness and death. Everywhere I went, I met someone who had a son or brother killed in the fighting," Buckles said.

Private Buckles came out a corporal at 18, having earned four service stripes. His last assignment was escorting German prisoners of war back to Germany.

"We truly believed this was the war to end all wars and that this would solve the world's problems," he said. "I got back to the States in February 1920 and there were no more parades or celebrations. I don't blame anyone. It's human nature to forget bad things right away."

In 1921, Buckles moved to Toronto for a job with White Star Lines, and a few years later to New York City to work in the bond department of Bankers Trust Co. He was invited to be an honorary member in a group of World War I veterans from the New York 7th Regiment -- known as a "silk-stocking" unit because it included wealthy Park Avenue residents.

Buckles' shipping experience was called upon in World War II. "My job was to expedite the movement of cargo, and I was stationed in the Philippines in Manila. We were evacuating people in cargo ships from there, and I was captured," he said. He was a prisoner of war for three years and two months, until the 11th Airborne rescued him on Feb. 23, 1945.

Buckles' recollections, which have been recorded by the Library of Congress, were confirmed by his daughter, Susannah Flanagan, 48, of Burke, Va. Her mother, Audrey Buckles, died in 1999.

[4thGordons]

Hi Bottsgreys,

The article cites the Veterans Administration for the info. It might be worth contacting them with the details of your local man - it seems suprising that they are unaware, but given recent performance with more recent vets this is not THAT suprising.

here is another report: there is a short video news report too.

Looking into this I found another site which I had not seen before, it identifies itself as WW1 in the News and does seem to have a pretty good digest of recent news - the link I pasted above is following news of surviving veterans