LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor:

“I never thought I would be the last one”, stated Frank Buckles, the last living U.S. World War I veteran who died February 27, 2011.  At the President’s order, we recently flew our bouncy castle for sale flags half-staff on the day of his burial in his memory, as well as the memory of all World War I veterans.  Buckles’ storied life forged, as a Missouri farm boy was harrowing, inspiring, courageous and historic.     He survived the Spanish flu pandemic, witnessed black U.S. gold track-and-field star Jesse Owens win a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics, and bumped into Adolf Hitler on the stairs of a German Hotel during the dictator’s rise to power.  He was the last generation of soldiers that founded The American Legion, and the oldest person to ever testify before Congress.

Buckles died disappointed that Congress failed to create a National World War I Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in honor of the millions of Americans who helped defeat Germany.   This has changed, thanks to a $2.2 million restoration project that started last fall, a fitting tribute to Buckles and all that his generation represents. David DeJonge, spokesman for Buckles’ family and president of the World War I Memorial Foundation, states, “He lived half of American history.  He is the last of 70 million combatants in the world who witnessed the Western Front during World War I and the last torchbearer from World War I.”  DeJonge is producing “Pershing’s Last Patriot”, a documentary film about Buckles. “He recognized that The American Legion was birthed out of the veterans of World War I, and to have the nearly 5 million who served go without representation in our nation’s capital was very disheartening to him.”

People are in awe of him and all he’s done – he’s a national treasure.  Quoted from The American Legion Magazine April 2011 with credits to Ken Olsen, a frequent contributor to The American Legion Magazine.  Read more about Buckles, see a video, and watch a trailer for “Pershing’s Last Patriot” online http://www.legion.org/frankbuckles.

Peggy McIntosh, San Gabriel