BottsGreys Posted 30 January , 2004 Share Posted 30 January , 2004 Our local Great War vet, Frank Buckles, turned 103 yesterday (Thursday, Jan 29th). He is a widower who lives on a 330 acre farm here, still works the farm-- drives a tractor,etc, and reads regularly from his collection of over 1000 books. He enlisted at age 16 in 1917. He later worked in the steamship business and was captured as a civilian when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. He was freed by U.S. forces in Manila in February 1945. Attached is a photo of Mr. Buckles as he celebrated yesterday. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john w. Posted 30 January , 2004 Share Posted 30 January , 2004 Congrats on reaching 103! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Evans Posted 31 January , 2004 Share Posted 31 January , 2004 Hot dogs, French fries and coffee, obviously a healthy diet! Belated congratulations to Frank and thanks to Chris for sharing this with us. Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 31 January , 2004 Share Posted 31 January , 2004 It sounds like he should have wrote his own book rather than collecting other peoples A belated Happy Birthday Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 31 January , 2004 Share Posted 31 January , 2004 What an interesting - and at times harrowing life - he has lived. The entire 20th century as your life time. Extraordinary. Pleasing that his diet is typical rather than consisting of nothing but seaweed and tofu ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Gibson Posted 31 January , 2004 Share Posted 31 January , 2004 Belated birthday greetings Frank. Hot Dog, French Fries and Coffee now let me show that to the wife!!!!!! Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottsGreys Posted 10 March , 2004 Author Share Posted 10 March , 2004 I turned on WETA (PBS-Washington, DC) tonight, and it was airing a new special program titled "Proud to Serve" which salutes the U.S. Army and the many generations of soldiers which have served in it throughout U.S. history. The program is narrated by Walter Cronkite and contains many interviews with WWII, Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf War vets, as well as others whose service was only in peacetime. As I was watching, I was very pleasantly surprised to see our local WWI Vet, Frank Buckles (the subject of this thread), in a soundstage chair recalling his service in the Great War--the Navy and Marines refused him as they questioned his age (he was underage), so he joined the Army, served in Ambulance Corps (Service?), spent 7 months in England, then 8 months in France. He never saw frontline service, he spent most of his time overseas driving ambulances in the rear. The great thing about this program was that it showed personal photos provided by the interviewees, and it was quite a treat for me to see and hear this man of 103 yrs interspersed with photos of him in his newly-issued uniform at age 16. I must admit that one of the most powerful moments of the program for me was Vietnam-related. They ran a list of names and showed portrait photos of U.S. Army soldiers in Vietnam who had thrown themselves on live grenades in order to save comrades. I didn't count, but it was a long list, I think easily 80-100 names, a handful of whom survived. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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