Frank
Buckles, the last living
U.S. World War I veteran,
has died, a spokesman for
his family said Sunday. He
was 110.
Lawmakers
Monday began to move ahead
with proposed resolutions
that would allow his casket
to be displayed at the
Capitol Rotunda, and plans
were already in the works
for his burial at Arlington
National Cemetery.
Buckles
"died peacefully in his home
of natural causes" early
Sunday morning, the family
said in a statement sent to
CNN late Sunday by spokesman
David DeJonge.
Buckles
marked his 110th birthday on
February 1, but his family
had earlier told CNN he had
slowed considerably since
last fall, according his
daughter Susannah Buckles
Flanagan, who lives at the
family home near Charles
Town, West Virginia.
Buckles, who
served as a U.S. Army
ambulance driver in Europe
during what was then known
as the "Great War," rose to
the rank of corporal before
the war ended.
His
assignments included that of
an escort for German
prisoners of war. Little did
he know he would someday
become a prisoner of war
during World War II.
He came to
prominence in recent years,
in part because of the work
of DeJonge, a Michigan
portrait photographer who
had undertaken a project to
document the last surviving
veterans of that war.
As the years
continued, all but Buckles
had passed away, leaving him
the "last man standing"
among U.S. troops who were
called "The Doughboys." His
death leaves only two
verified surviving WWI
veterans in the world, both
of whom are British.
President
Obama issued a statement
Monday on Buckles' passing,
saying he and first lady
Michelle Obama were
"inspired" by Buckles'
story.
Frank
Buckles lived the American
Century," Obama's statement
said. "Like so many
veterans, he returned home,
continued his education,
began a career, and along
with his late wife Audrey,
raised their daughter
Susannah. ... We join
Susannah and all those who
knew and loved her father in
celebrating a remarkable
life that reminds us of the
true meaning of patriotism
and our obligations to each
other as Americans."
Buckles told
CNN in 2007 he accepted the
responsibility of honoring
those who had gone before
him, and to be their voice
for permanent, national
recognition after he was
gone.
DeJonge
found himself the spokesman
and advocate for Buckles in
his mission to see to it
that his comrades were
honored with a monument on
the National Mall, pushing
for improvements to a
neglected, obscure city
memorial nearly in the
shadow of the elaborate
World War II memorial.
Buckles
wanted national status
granted to the D.C. War
Memorial, a marble gazebo
built in the 1930s that, for
now, honors only his
comrades from the District
of Columbia. His call was to
elevate the designation of
the site to join U.S. honors
accorded to those who served
in World War II, Korea and
Vietnam.
"We have
come to the end of a chapter
in history," said Rep. Ted
Poe, R-Texas, a House
sponsor of legislation to
upgrade the DC War Memorial.
"Frank was the last American
Doughboy -- a national
treasure," Poe said in a
statement provided to CNN.
The "Frank
Buckles WWI Memorial Act"
passed the House but had not
cleared the Senate before
Congress adjourned. Poe on
Monday restated his support
for a House resolution that
would allow a public display
for Buckles in the Capitol
Rotunda. Sen. Jay
Rockefeller, D-West Virginia
is a co-sponsor of the
Senate proposal.
Buckles, at
the age of 108, came to
Capitol Hill from West
Virginia in 2009 to testify
before a Senate panel on
behalf of the D.C. War
Memorial bill. He sat
alongside Rockefeller and
fellow proponent Sens. John
Thune, R-South Dakota, and
Jim Webb, D-Virginia.
"I have to,"
he told CNN when he came to
Washington, as part of what
he considered his
responsibility to honor the
memory of fellow veterans.
Rockefeller
praised Buckles in a
statement Monday, calling
him "a unique American, a
wonderfully plain-spoken
man, and an icon for the
World War I generation."
"His life
was full and varied and an
inspiration for his
unbridled patriotism and
enthusiasm for life," the
statement said.
Buckles,
after World War I ended,
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.
Never saying
much about his POW
experience, Buckles instead
wanted attention drawn to
the plight of the D.C. War
Memorial. During a visit to
the run-down, neglected site
a few years ago, he went
past the nearby World War II
memorial without stopping,
even as younger veterans
stopped and saluted the old
soldier in his wheelchair as
he went by.
Renovations
to the structure began last
fall, but Buckles, with his
health already failing,
could not make a trip to
Washington to review the
improvements. The National
Park Service is overseeing
efforts that include
replacing a neglected
walkway and dressing up a
deteriorated dome and marble
columns.
