05-12-2008
Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last known surviving American veteran who fought in World War I, will be an honored guest at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City throughout Memorial Day Weekend. This will be the first time that a soldier from the Great War has toured the National Museum since it opened in 2006.
The 107-year-old veteran will participate in several events. Along with touring the National World War I Museum, he will be honored at the Museum’s Memorial Day Ceremony.
“Visiting the National World War I Museum and coming home to Missouri is one of the highlights of papa’s year,” said Buckles’ daughter, who will accompany her father on the trip.
Buckles was born in Harrison County, Missouri in 1901. He served in the United States Army from 1917-1919 and attained the rank of Corporal.
He enlisted on August 14, 1917 as an underage but enthusiastic recruit. He trained in Kansas at Ft. Riley and in December 1917 he and 102 men of the 1st Ft. Riley Casual Detachment sailed to Europe. The men traveled from Hoboken, New Jersey to Europe on the HMS “Carpathia,” the vessel famous for rescuing the survivors of the “Titanic” in 1912.
As a doughboy, Buckles drove motorcycle sidecars and ambulances in England and France. After the Armistice, he was with a POW Escort Company returning prisoners to Germany. He returned to the United States on the USS “Bogahontis” and was discharged at Camp Pike, Arkansas on November 12, 1919.
The National World War I Museum, officially designated by the U.S. Congress, is the only American museum solely dedicated to preserving the objects, history and personal experiences of a war whose impact still echoes today.
The Museum was designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, one of the pre-eminent museum exhibit designers in the world today. The culmination of a $102 million project, the Museum opened to great national fanfare and critical acclaim on December 2, 2006.
Photo: WWI German Fighter Plane
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