IV 111th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1060 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 2, 2010 Mr. Poe of Texas (for himself, Mr. Faleomavaega, and Mr. Barrett of South Carolina) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs RESOLUTION Congratulating Frank Buckles, America’s last surviving WWI veteran, on his 109th birthday on February 1, 2010.

Whereas Frank Buckles was born on a family farm in Harrison County, Missouri, in 1901; Whereas after several rejections, Buckles eluded a recruiter about his young age and enlisted in the Army when he was 16 years old; Whereas Buckles deployed with his fellow doughboys to the tune of America’s best-known WWI song, Over There, on the Carpathia, the ship that rescued the only survivors of the Titanic; Whereas Buckles served as a motorcycle driver for dignitaries, an ambulance driver, and a prison guard while serving for the American Expeditionary Forces; Whereas Buckles returned to the United States in 1920 as a corporal; Whereas, while working as an assistant purser of the Western World steamship for the American President Lines, Buckles was captured by the Japanese as a civilian and became a prisoner of war during World War II; Whereas for 39 months Buckles survived on meager rations consisting of beans, rice, and worm-filled mush until his rescue by the 11th Airborne Division of the Army on February 23, 1945, the same day he was scheduled to be executed; Whereas after fighting in two world wars, Buckles settled in West Virginia as a farmer where his family ancestry dates back to the 1700s and where he worked the farm until the age of 102; Whereas Buckles dedicated his life so that other WWI veterans will be remembered; and Whereas his story embodies the self-sacrifice and patriotism that is at the very core of what it means to be an American: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives congratulates Frank Buckles, America’s last surviving WWI veteran, on his 109th birthday on February 1, 2010.