USA'S OLDEST LIVING WWI VET WILL BE BURIED AT ARLINGTON

(04/12/2008)

West Virginia resident, Frank Woodruff Buckles, 107, the last living American-born veteran of World War I, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery when he passes. Friends have persuaded the federal government to allow it to happen, taking up the cause, privately calling and e-mailing the Pentagon, the White House and others in the federal government for an exception. Buckles was born in Missouri in 1901 and raised in Oklahoma, Buckles visited a string of military recruiters after the United States entered the "war to end all wars" in April 1917. He was rejected by the Marines and the Navy, but eventually persuaded an Army captain he was 18 and enlisted. Buckles spent his tour of duty working mainly as a driver and a warehouse clerk in Germany and France. After Armistice Day, he helped return prisoners of war to Germany. And in January 1920, he returned to the States aboard the USS Pocahontas. He has been a longtime resident of the eastern panhandle. "Arlington is a place where many of his friends are buried, and a place he has visited many times," said his daughter.

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