The last surviving U.S. World War I veteran, Frank Buckles, died on Sunday at his home in Charles Town, W. Va., biographer and family spokesman David DeJonge told The Associated Press.
He died of natural causes at age 110.
Buckles, who was born in Harrison County, Mo., on February 1, 1901, enlisted at 16 for the Great War after lying about his age, according to The World War I Memorial Foundation.
He was sent to England and then moved to France to serve as an ambulance driver.
After making it home from World War I, Buckles also survived being a civilian prisoner of war in the Philippines during World War II.
As honorary chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation, Buckles had been campaigning for greater recognition for World War I veterans, advocating for a memorial on the National Mall and wanted to see more education about the “War to End All Wars.”
“When people come here, I ask them—the younger ones—what information they have about World War I, and most of them say either none at all or very little. And that bothers me,” Buckles said in a press release issued by the foundation in celebration of his 109th birthday in 2010.
He died of natural causes at age 110.
Buckles, who was born in Harrison County, Mo., on February 1, 1901, enlisted at 16 for the Great War after lying about his age, according to The World War I Memorial Foundation.
He was sent to England and then moved to France to serve as an ambulance driver.
After making it home from World War I, Buckles also survived being a civilian prisoner of war in the Philippines during World War II.
As honorary chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation, Buckles had been campaigning for greater recognition for World War I veterans, advocating for a memorial on the National Mall and wanted to see more education about the “War to End All Wars.”
“When people come here, I ask them—the younger ones—what information they have about World War I, and most of them say either none at all or very little. And that bothers me,” Buckles said in a press release issued by the foundation in celebration of his 109th birthday in 2010.
