Last-Known WW1 Frontline Veteran Is Laid To Rest

Laid to rest: Australian Navy sailors carry the coffin of World War One veteran Claude Choules during his funeral in Perth

'Chuckles' The Last-Known WW1 Frontline Veteran Laid To Rest With Navy Honour Guard -- The Daily Mail

The last First World War frontline veteran was buried with military honours in a service in Australia today.

British-born Claude 'Chuckles' Choules died at the age of 110 and was buried in the town of Fremantle with an honour guard of 100 sailors.

The veteran of the Royal Navy and Australian Royal Navy was also the last living veteran to have served in both wars, after his time as a sailor in the Great War and demolitions officer in Australia in the Second World War.

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My Comment: A fitting tribute to the last living veteran to have served in both World Wars.

The Last WWI Combat Veteran Has Passed Away

Photo: Mr Choules was a Chief Petty Officer in the Australian Navy

Last WWI Combat Veteran Claude Choules Dies Aged 110 -- BBC

The world's last known combat veteran of World War I, Claude Choules, has died in Australia aged 110.

Known to his comrades as Chuckles, British-born Mr Choules joined the Royal Navy at 15 and went on to serve on HMS Revenge.

He moved to Australia in the 1920s and served in the military until 1956.

Mr Choules, who had been married to his wife Ethel for 76 years, was reported to have died in his sleep at a nursing home in his adopted city of Perth.

He is survived by three children and 11 grandchildren. His wife died three years ago.

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More News On The Passing Away Of The Last WWI Combat Veteran

Last WWI combatant dies in Australia -- AFP
World loses last World War I combat veteran after death of Perth digger Claude Choules -- Sydney Morning Herald
Claude Stanley Choules, last World War I combat veteran, dies at 110 -- Global Post
Last First World War veteran dies -- Belfast Telegraph

A Final Tribute To America's Last First World War Vet

Last American World War I Veteran Receives A Hero's Burial With Full Military Honours -- The Daily Mail

The last surviving American World War I veteran has been laid to rest with full military honours.

Frank Buckles - who outlived 4.7million other U.S. World War I servicemen before he died aged 110 last month - was buried in the prestigious Arlington National Cemetery today.

His coffin, with a U.S. flat draped over the top, was carried into the graveyard by seven horses after President Obama had paid his respects.

Hundreds of people turned up for the funeral of the last survivor of a brutal four-year conflict that descended into a war of attrition as an estimated 16 million died.

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More News On Frank Buckles, A Tribute To America's Last World War One Vet

Final World War I veteran buried -- L.A. Times
Frank Buckles, last U.S. vet­eran of World War I, laid to rest at Arlington -- Washington Post
Obama Visits as Last World War I Veteran Buried at Arlington National Cemetery -- ABC News
US pays tribute to its last First World War veteran -- The Telegraph
Last World War I Veteran Buried At Arlington -- Wall Street Journal
US pays tribute to its last World War 1 veteran -- AFP
Arlington hosts burial for last U.S. WWI veteran; Obama pays respects -- USA Today
Obama pays respects to last U.S. World War I vet -- L.A. Times
Obama and Biden pay their respects -- CNN
Obama, Biden Pay Respects to Last WWI Vet -- ABC News
Vets of the Great War were the true tough guys -- Tony Rizzo, Kansas City
Frank Buckles burial -- Washington Post (Photos)

No Capital Rotunda Honor For The Last U.S. WWI Vet

At the age of 110, Frank Buckles was the last known American survivor of World War I. He died Sunday.(Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Last WWI Vet Likely Not To Have Capitol Rotunda Honor -- CNN

Washington (CNN) - The last living U.S. World War I veteran, who passed away this week, will receive an honors burial at Arlington National Ceremony, but he likely will not be honored in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda as many had hoped.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, had introduced a resolution in the Senate that would authorize the use of the Capitol to honor Frank Buckles.

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More News On Honoring The Last Living U.S. World War I Veteran

Boehner Says No Capitol Ceremony For World War I Vet -- National Journal
Capitol ceremony for WWI vet blocked in Congress -- AP
Boehner To Request Arlington Ceremony for Buckles -- FOX News
The last doughboy and the emergence of a great nation -- Michael Gerson, Washington Post
The Last Doughboy -- Paul Pillar, The National Interest
Government Is Unwilling To Honor Veterans -- Post Journal

The Last Surviving U.S. Veteran Of World War I Has Died

Frank Buckles, Last World War I Doughboy, Is Dead At 110 -- New York Times

Frank Buckles, who drove an Army ambulance in France in 1918 and came to symbolize a generation of embattled young Americans as the last of the World War I doughboys, died on Sunday at his home in Charles Town, W. Va. He was 110.

His death was announced by a family spokesman, David DeJonge, The Associated Press said.

He was only a corporal and he never got closer than 30 or so miles from the Western Front trenches, but Mr. Buckles became something of a national treasure as the last living link to the two million men who served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France in “the war to end all wars.”

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More News On The Passing Of Frank Buckles

Frank Buckles, America's last WWI veteran, dies aged 110 -- BBC
Frank Buckles, last American veteran of World War I, dies at 110 -- L.A. Times
Frank Buckles: What the last doughboy wanted for other veterans -- Christian Science Monitor
Last U.S. veteran of World War One dies at 110 -- Reuters
America's last World War I veteran dies -- AFP
Frank Buckles, Last Remaining American World War I Vet, Dies at 110 -- Time Magazine
America's last surviving veteran of World War I dies aged 110 years old -- The Daily Mail

My comment: Truly the end of an era.

The Last Surviving World War I Doughboy Turns 110 Years Old Today

Frank Woodruff Buckles (File photo)

WWI Veteran To Celebrate 110th Birthday Today -- Herald Mail

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — Frank Woodruff Buckles, Jefferson County’s most famous living citizen and the last surviving World War I doughboy, turns 110 years old Tuesday.

Buckles, who lives with his daughter, Susannah Buckles Flanagan, at Gap View, the family farm off old W.Va. 9, has been the subject of wide media and congressional attention in recent years.

In 2010, U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., co-sponsored a bill to rededicate and restore a monument in Washington, D.C., honoring the 500 or so District of Columbia residents who served in World War I. Their bill calls for authorizing a new sculpture to make the monument a national memorial honoring all 4.7 million Americans who served in the 1914-18 conflict, not just those from the nation’s capital.

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My Comment: To be the last one left .... wow .... the stories that he can tell.

The End Of An Era

February 13, 2008 file photo of John Babcock Canada's last survivor of WWI.
Brian J Gavriloff/Canwest News Service

John 'Jack' Babcock, Last Known Canadian WWI Vet, Dies -- The Slate

John "Jack" Babcock was a 151/2-year-old Canadian farm boy when he joined the 146th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1916 during World War I.

"They were hard up for men then," he recalled in 2003 in the Ottawa Citizen. "They didn't have the draft yet" and relied on enlistees.

Babcock, Canada's last known World War I veteran, died Thursday at 109 at his home in Spokane, Wash.

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More News On The Last Canadian Vet

John Babcock and the legacy of the ordinary soldier -- CBC
Last known Canadian First World War veteran dies, aged 109 -- National Post
Death of a survivor -- Ottawa Citizen
The last of a great generation -- Times Colonist
A man of his time -- Ottawa Citizen
The last veteran -- Hamilton Spectator
War veteran's family says no to state funeral -- Globe And Mail

My Comment: There is only one US soldier left from that era .... and when he is gone a connection to our history will be gone forever.

Last U.S. Veteran Of World War I Turns 109

Photo: Sen. John Thune of South Dakota helps Frank Buckles, right, speak before a Senate subcommittee.

From CNN:

Washington (CNN) -- The last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, former Cpl. Frank Buckles, turns 109 on Monday and is still hoping for a national memorial in Washington for his comrades.

Buckles is expected to deliver remarks during a quiet celebration Monday afternoon at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia.

But the old "Doughboy" -- as World War I American infantry troops were called -- has already been outspoken in recent years, urging congressional lawmakers to give federal recognition and a facelift to a run-down District of Columbia memorial in an overgrown, wooded area along the National Mall.

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My Comment: The history that he personally knows from experience .... sighhh .... I could sit back and listen to these vets for hours.

The End Of An Era -- Last British Survivor Of The First World War Passes Away

Harry Patch was born on June 17, 1898 Photo: PA

Harry Patch, Britain's Oldest Man And Last Survivor Of First World War Trenches, Dies -- The Telegraph

Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier to have fought in the mud-soaked battle of Passchendaele in 1917, has died at the age of 111.

Mr Patch, known as the Last Tommy, had been living at a care home in Wells, Somerset.

He became the oldest man in Britain a week ago after the death of previous oldest WWI veteran Henry Allingham, 113.

He was the last living British-based soldier to have fought at Passchendaele where more than 70,000 British troops died. The sole remaining British survivor of the Great War is now Claude Choules, 108, who lives in in Australia.

When Mr Patch was born, on June 17, 1898, the Marquess of Salisbury was Prime Minister and Queen Victoria had two and a half years still to reign.

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My Comment: Before he passed away, he said the following:

“Millions of men came to fight in this war and I find it incredible that I am the only one left.”

This man has lived an incredible life .... a witness to two world wars and a revolution in science, politics, cultural and political developments that must have sounded like science fiction when he was born.

His passing is the passing of a great generation.

More News On The Last British Survivor Of The First World War

Britain's last surviving WW1 veteran dies, aged 111 -- Reuters
'Last Tommy' Harry Patch dies aged 111 -- Times Online
Deaths of World's Oldest Men Leave Few WWI Vets -- ABC News
Harry Patch, last British WWI soldier, dies at 111 -- AP
Private Harry Patch -- The Telegraph
Queen pays tribute to 'Last Tommy' -- Press Association
The life and times of Harry Patch -- Times Online
Have your say: Harry Patch -- BBC
In pictures: Harry Patch -- BBC

The Last Known U.S. Military Veteran Of World War I, Buckles Turns 108 Today.

Frank Buckles in Charles Town, W.Va., near Harpers Ferry, with a 1917 photo of himself in Europe. In 1941, he was in Manila when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. He was among Western civilians taken prisoner and was held for 31/2 years. (LAURENCE KESTERSON / Staff Photographer)

'Our Last Living Link' To WWI -- Philly.com

Veteran Frank Buckles, a West Virginian who turns 108 today, "never thought I'd be the last."

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - World War I took place so long ago - in a lost world of cavalry horses and biplanes - that it's a little startling to meet Frank Buckles in the flesh.

The last known U.S. military veteran of World War I, Buckles turns 108 today.

On Tuesday, as a winter storm moved in from the west, he sat in a nice blue blazer in a warm corner of his day room, surrounded by history books. Outside, white wisps blew across the pale stubble on the 330-acre cattle farm where he settled quietly in 1954 after what already had been a life's worth of adventure in not one but two wars and as a commercial seafarer. Beyond lay the river town of Harpers Ferry and the Civil War battlefield at Antietam.

Buckles said he had always known he would grow quite old. His father lived to be 97. He had a sister who was 104. Other relatives on his mother's side lived to be 100.

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My Comment: What a shame that he is not at the Super Bowl today. That would have been the ultimate birthday gift to everyone .... maybe even to him .... but something tells me that he would be to shy to attend.