Buckles, who later spent more than three years in a Japanese POW camp as a civilian in
A total of 4,734,991 Americans served in the military during World War I.
When 108-year-old
“I always knew I’d be one of the last because I was
one of the youngest when I joined,” Buckles, then 107, told the New
York Daily News. “But I never thought I’d be the last one.”
Earning that distinction resulted in numerous honors for Buckles in 2008.
In
Pentagon of recent photographic portraits of nine World War I veterans,
including himself, who had lived to age 100 or older.
In April, then-
And on
of the signing of the armistice — Buckles was recognized by the
secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs as “our last living
link” to World War I.
He was born
When
After being rejected by Marine and Navy recruiters,
Buckles tried the Army. When the recruiter asked to see his birth
certificate, Buckles said
His word was good enough for the Army.
Buckles enlisted on
“I was a snappy soldier,” he told USA Today in 2007
while looking at a sepia-toned photo of himself in his uniform. “All
gung-ho.”
In his Daily News interview, Buckles recalled that an old sergeant told him, “If you want to get to
He shipped off to
Initially stationed in
When the war ended, Buckles remained in
After returning home a corporal, he attended a business school in
Satisfying a desire for adventure, he got a job with the White Star Line shipping company and traveled the world. He was in
Buckles spent about 31/2 years at the Santo Tomas and
“There was no mercy as far as the Japanese were concerned,” he said.
Buckles, who led daily fitness classes in the camp, said food became scarce as
began losing the war. He had gone in weighing 140 pounds and had lost
more than 50 pounds by the time the camp was liberated in
After returning home, Buckles married
“I had been bouncing around from one place to
another for years at sea,” Buckles told the Charleston Daily Mail in
2007. “It was time to settle down in one place.”
Buckles’ wife died in 1999, the same year French President
He continued to live on his farm and reportedly drove a car and a farm tractor until he was 102.
Just before his 108th birthday in 2009, Buckles told
The Philadelphia Inquirer that he always knew he’d live a long life:
His father died at 97, a sister at 104. And other relatives on his
mother’s side of the family hit the century mark.
As for living long enough to be the last U.S.
military veteran of World War I, he grinned and said, “If it has to be
somebody, it might as well be me.”
He is survived by his daughter,
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