March 11, 2008
The last WWI vet...
Bush thanks WWI veteran for 'love for America'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush met the last known surviving veteran of the first world war on Thursday, thanking the 107-year-old for his service and his "love for America."
Bush called Frank Buckles "the last living doughboy from World War I" and said the centenarian still has a crisp memory.
"Mr. Buckles has a vivid recollection of historic times, and one way for me to honor the service of those who wear the uniform in the past and those who wear it today is to herald you, sir, and to thank you very much for your patriotism and your love for America," the president said, seated with Buckles in the Oval Office.
"We're glad you're here."
Buckles, who turned 107 last month, lied about his age to join the U.S. Army at the age of 16...
This seems so poignant and strange to me. When I was young, the gray-haired distinguished men who ran things were of the WWI Generation. Harry Truman, Ike, the presidents of big corporations. And the handsome young men who were just starting to get on in the world were the WWII generation. Now the men of the AEF are all gone. nd the men and women of WWII are pretty much out of public life. (Except one guy, named Josef Ratzinger!)
There was an old-timer who worked for my dad who fought in WWI. Well, actually, he told me that on his first day in France he got in a knife fight with another southern boy, and that was the end of his war! He chewed tobacco--that was a fascinating thing to a boy. And not snuff; he bit pieces off a chaw. And chewed, and then spit. A bit of history I'm glad to have seen, but don't miss....
Posted by John Weidner at March 11, 2008 06:36 PMDitto about the strangeness and poignancy of their passing, John. Both my grandfathers served in the Army in WWI-- Mom's father was an infantryman in France in 1918, and Dad's father was a flight instructor in Texas. Both men enlisted in the summer of 1917, and they were in their later 20s(!). Both are long gone, of course-- Mom's father died in 1957 (alas, I never knew him) and Grandpa died in 1977, when I was 15. For me, the WWI generation were already in retirement by the time I was old enough to pay attention to such things, but it still is unnerving to know that almost every one of them is gone.
More unnerving still is the thought that the WWII generation is passing. It means that we're the grown-ups now. *shudder*
It has to be even stranger from Mr. Buckle's standpoint. There he is, the last of a cadre once numbered in the millions, now in a world far removed beyond the wildest imaginings of his peers 90 years ago. He's lived through it all, of course, but there has to be a corner of his mind that views today like something out of the story "Rip van Winkle".
Posted by: Hale Adams at March 12, 2008 07:50 PMThe fascinating thing for me is to think that Mr. Buckles grew up in a world where the old veterans at the 4th of July parade fought under Grant and Sherman and Sheridan - and some even under Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott - and we can still sit and talk with him. That's the connection that blows my mind...
Posted by: Ethan Hahn at March 13, 2008 05:17 AMCome to think of it, I was alive when the last Civil War vet died! I remember my Mom talking about it when I was a boy. Wow.
Posted by: John Weidner at March 13, 2008 05:28 AM...and he would have seen veterans of the Revolution march in 4th of July parades...the last one didn't die until 1869:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0778679.html
A 16-year-old at Yorktown would have been 82 when a 16-year-old at Appomattox was born, who would be 78 when an 18-year-old at Iwo Jima was born...it is pretty amazing how few steps it really takes.
My father heard stories about the Argonne from his grandfather - who himself would have heard his grandfather tell stories about laying seige to Petersburg.
Posted by: Ethan Hahn at March 13, 2008 09:25 AM
