Feb 28,2011 [b]: Last US WW1 vet dies

[Undertoad]

Bullitt suggests this one and, although there haven't been enough IotDs recently, I figured we should make this the "B" image for Feb 28. The passage of time has already gone too long.

The CNN story gives us the details. Frank Buckles died of natural causes. He was 110 years old, born on February 1, 1901.

Buckles is the last WW1 tough guy, and how tough he must have been.

Buckles, who served as a U.S. Army ambulance driver in Europe during what became known as the "Great War," rose to the rank of corporal before the war ended... after World War I ended, [he] took up a career as a ship's officer on merchant vessels. He was captured by the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II and held prisoner of war for more than three years before he was freed by U.S. troops.

Buckles' family asks that donations be made to the National World War I Legacy Project to honor Frank Buckles and the 4,734,991 Americans that he served with during World War I. Details can be found at: www.frankbuckles.org

4,734,991 is a remarkable number. I had no idea it was that many. At the time there were only about 100,000,000 people in the entire country, so about 1 in 20 served in an overseas war, at a time when it wasn't so easy to travel overseas. And so many died. Many nations suffered worse losses, but 1918 marks the only year in US history since 1900 when the population of the US actually dropped.

Which makes Buckles' final rest even that much more remarkable. Here is a gentleman who was born only two generations after the US Civil War. We salute you Sir, Rest in Peace.