Frank Woodruff Buckles

At sixteen, he crossed the Atlantic for the First World War. Frank Woodruff Buckles was born near Bethany, Missouri, on 1 February 1901. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on 14 August 1917 after giving an older age to the recruiter. After training at Fort Riley, he sailed aboard RMS Carpathia and served in ambulance and transportation duties in England and France. Following the Armistice, he helped escort prisoners of war back to Germany and served with the occupation forces. Promoted to corporal on 22 September 1919, he received an honorable discharge on 13 November 1919. His World War I Victory Medal and Army of Occupation of Germany Medal mark that military service. A civilian career in shipping took him across the world. In the Philippines during the Second World War, Japanese forces interned him as a civilian, first at Santo Tomas and later at Los Baños. He endured harsh conditions until American forces liberated the Los Baños camp in February 1945. This civilian imprisonment did not make him a U.S. military prisoner of war. Buckles later settled with his family in West Virginia. France honoured him as an Officer of the Legion of Honour, and in his later years he pressed for a national memorial to Americans who served in the First World War. Recognized as the last surviving American veteran of that conflict, he died on 27 February 2011 at age 110 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.