Last Known US WWI Veteran to Visit War Museum

Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last known surviving American veteran out of the more than 2,000,000 U.S. troops who fought in World War I will be an honored guest at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City throughout Memorial Day Weekend. The 107-year-old Buckles will be the first soldier from the Great War to actually tour the National Museum since it opened in 2006.

Born in Harrison County, Missouri in 1901, Buckles served in the U.S. Army from 1917-1919, attaining the rank of Corporal. Along with 101 other men of the 1st Ft. Riley Casual Detachment, Buckles sailed from New Jersey to Europe on the HMS "Carpathia," the vessel famous for rescuing the survivors of the "Titanic" in 1912.

During his service in England and France, Buckles drove motorcycle sidecars and ambulances. After the Armistice, he served as a POW escort returning prisoners of war to Germany.

"It's best for anyone who's been in the military service if he's had some disagreeable experiences... to talk about it and get it out of his system and then forget it," stated Buckles in a Library of Congress audio interview.

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