I was saddened by the recent passing of Mr. Frank Woodruff Buckles. In 2008 I was afforded the privilege to visit with Mr. Buckles at his home in West Virginia. Small in stature yet iconic in presence, the World War I veteran and World War II civilian prisoner of war displayed a grasp of history and the mental acuity of a person many years his junior. We covered a timeline that spanned from his grandfather’s participation in the Revolutionary War to his own life as a young doughboy in the “Great War”, through incarceration and near starvation in the Philippines during the 1940s.

Well past the century old mark, Mr. Buckles still enjoyed reading and interacting with people. His zest for life was contagious. He made you feel like he had known you for years. After our conversation we concluded the visit together by taking the photo that I share with you. It is my way of paying tribute to the man that truly embraced his World War I comrades and carried their banner high – the Last American Doughboy.