Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Happy Birthday, Frank Buckles!

A gift for the last doughboy's 110th birthday - CNN.com: "Today, on the 110th birthday of Frank Buckles, it's worth pausing for a minute to reflect on the sweep of this man's remarkable life.

He served in the ambulance corps during World War I in France and Germany, where he evacuated wounded soldiers from the horrific battlefield. As if that weren't enough, he was drawn into World War II, where he survived three years in a Japanese POW camp after his freighter was captured.

Buckles also happens to be the last surviving doughboy, yet another distinction for a man who was able to join the Army at just 16. Frank Buckles was on this Earth before we had washing machines, before X-rays, before air conditioning, before TV or plastic, even before sliced bread. He is, in short, amazing and has been alive long enough to inspire awe at his longevity."

2 comments:

Graham Powell said...

Time marches on. I was born 103 years after the Civil War ended. In just 3 more years, it will be 100 years since World War I began.

Mike Dennis said...

He was also here before we had John Steinbeck, airplanes, cars that could go from coast to coast, the Titanic, Hollywood-made movies, Tide detergent, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, Peter Lorre, the Russo-Japanese War, and the Panama Canal.