WHAT IS MEMORIAL DAY ABOUT? THE LAST LIVING WORLD WAR I VETERAN

We have been introduced to Frank Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of World War I. This is the type of person that we are honoring on Memorial Day. He currently lives in West Virginia.

One interesting thing about this veteran is that he is currently active in memorializing World War I veterans and something is coming up in the future with reference to this veteran. For the past three years Buckles has been recounting his story to a filmmaker who is in the process of making a film about Buckles. Not only will World War I veterans be honored with Memorial Day, but a film coming directly from the memory of someone who lived it will be released for public consumption.

Buckles joined the army in 1917 when he was 16 years old; the war had already been going on for three years. During his two years of service in England and France Buckles was an ambulance driver and also transported prisoners of war after the war ended. But it doesn’t matter what veterans did during the war, they had important roles to play during the war and deserve to be honored during Memorial Day.

Buckles was not in a combat situation during the first world war and was discharged in 1919, but he had a much harder time during World War II when he was not even a soldier. During this time he was taken as a prisoner by the Japanese when he was working in the Philippines and spent 3 ½ years in a prison camp beginning in 1942. This experience, even though he was not a soldier at the time also qualifies him to be honored on Memorial Day.

Buckles has been honored with awards several times for his service during World War I. First he received both the Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal from the United States. The country of France also awarded him their Legion d’honneur. Much later, in 2008, he was awarded with the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Gold Medal of Merit. All these medals were well deserved, but the yearly honor of Memorial Day will never be too much for these veterans.