Rolando

rolando // Frank Buckles: //// America //// ’s Last Living WWI Veteran // // By: the //// US //// Department of Veterans Affairs // ~1917-Frank was 16…he wanted to enlist to go to WWI so he lied to an army recruiter and said he was 18, the recruiter said he had to be 21 ~Frank continued looking for a recruiter that would believe his story of not having a birth certificate and allow him to go into the war (which someone did) ~He was an ambulance driver in France ~After the armistice, he took German POWs back to their homeland ~He served two years in the army ~After the army, he worked on the White Star Line as a merchant seaman for 20 years ~In 1941 he was in the Philippines ~December 8th the Japanese invaded the islands and Frank was taken prisoner ~For the next 3½ years he was a POW during WWII ~He was placed at a former university campus that was converted into an internment camp for more than 2,000 civilians ~He kept himself and others mentally sharp by leading groups in exercise ~In 1945, prisoners were rescued by paratroopers from the 11th Airborne Division during a raid ~Frank was 100 pounds lighter when he left the camp than when he got there ~Frank returned to the states and has had a long and happy life