Arlington Burial Planned for Last
‘Doughboy’
Frank Buckles
America paid its respects to its last World War I veteran March 15, as former Army Cpl. Frank Buckles was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Buckles -- the last of the more than 5 million Americans who served during World War I and were known as “doughboys” -- died Feb. 22 at his home in West Virginia. He was 110.
He will lie in honor at Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater Chapel from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 15 for the public to pay its last respects. The interment will be at 4 p.m., and the corporal will be buried near the site where General of the Armies John “Black Jack” Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, is buried.
Buckles was born in Missouri in 1901. He enlisted in the Army in 1917, shortly after the United States declared war on Germany and its allies. He served as an ambulance driver on the Western Front.
In 1941, Buckles was in the Philippines, working in Manila, when Japan invaded the island nation. The Japanese captured him and confined him at the Los Banos prison with 2,200 other American civilians. U.S. forces liberated the camp in 1945.
President Barack Obama ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half staff in Buckles’ honor March 15.
Two men in Great Britain are believed to be World War I’s last living veterans. Both are 110 years old.
"Shifty" By Chuck Yeager
Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy
Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st
Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the
History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10
episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.
I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't
know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having
trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was
at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle," the symbol of
the 101st Airborne, on his hat.
Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne
or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the
101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served,
and how many jumps he made.
Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so,
and was in until sometime in 1945 ..." at which point my heart
skipped.
At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training
jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . do you know
where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.
I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I know what
D-Day was." At that point he said "I also made a second jump into
Holland , into Arnhem ." I was standing with a genuine war hero ...
and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of
D-Day.
I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said
"Yes... And it 's real sad because, these days, so few of the guys are
left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." My heart
was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.
I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in
coach while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to
get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came
forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have
it, that I'd take his in coach.
He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are
still some who remember what we did and who still care is enough to
make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it.
And mine are brimming up now as I write this.
Shifty died on Jan. l7 after fighting cancer.
There was no parade.
No big event in Staples Center .
No wall-to-wall, back-to-back 24x7 news coverage.
No weeping fans on television.
And that's not right!
Let's give Shifty his own memorial service, online, in our own quiet way.
Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans.
Rest in peace, Shifty.
Chuck Yeager, Maj. General [ret.]
P.S. I think that it is amazing how the "media" chooses our "heroes" these days...
Michael Jackson & the like!
"SHIFTY" - an incredible American hero
SHIFTY DIED JAN 17, 2011..........May God rest his soul.
RIP - Dennis
