On Sunday, February 28th, Frank Buckles passed away. At the age of 110, Mr. Buckles was the last surviving veteran to serve with the US Military during World War I. Following the war, Frank worked a variety of jobs, and eventually arrived in the Philippines, on the eve of World War II. There, he became a captive of the Japanese until the liberation of those islands in 1945. During his time in captivity, despite the hardships he endured, Mr. Buckles was a leader of the prisoners, and held a daily calisthenics class to boost morale and health in the sub-human conditions. Following the end of the war, Frank settled in West Virginia, becoming a farmer and a father.
Throughout the years, Mr. Buckles embraced his role as a link to the Great War, and worked tirelessly to ensure the sacrifice and service of his comrades was not lost to history. With the cataclysm of the Second World War, and a half century of other conflicts, it is all too easy to forget the role of those young men who shipped off to France and England, answering the call of Woodrow Wilson to help make the world “safe for Democracy.”
In those early years of the twentieth century, the very concept of a successful Democracy or Republic was still a very young idea, and foreign to established political thinking. Europe was still dominated by monarchs, autocrats, and colonialists; and the United States still marked by the scars of its own terrible ordeal in the Civil War. America was a reluctant participant to the global conflict, but when faced with the prospect of German hegemony in Europe, men like Buckles answered the call, and led the United States onto the world stage.
This week, the world lost a true leader, and the last ambassador of a lost generation. The President has called for a day of honor for Mr. Buckles, with flags at half-staff around the country. This is the least we can do to mark the passing of Mr. Buckles, and all those who served freedom so long ago.