[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 82 (Thursday, May 17, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6259-S6260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ARMED FORCES DAY


                    HONORING FRANK WOODRUFF BUCKLES,

                            AN AMERICAN HERO

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, May 19 is Armed Forces Day. This is the day 
our country sets aside each year to remember and to honor the brave and 
patriotic Americans who serve today in the United States Armed Forces.
  On Armed Forces Day in 1953, President Dwight David Eisenhower noted, 
``It is fitting and proper that we devote one day each year to paying 
special tribute to those whose constancy and courage constitute one of 
the bulwarks guarding the freedom of this nation and the peace of the 
free world.''
  More than a half century later, his words still ring true. The 
survival of freedom still costs the commitment and sacrifice of 
America's sons and daughters. I want to use this opportunity to let 
them know that we in the United States Congress are thinking of them, 
and that we thank them for their service to our country.
  I would also like to use this opportunity to pay tribute to another 
brave and patriotic American, Mr. Frank Woodruff Buckles, who currently 
resides in the historic town of Charles Town, WV, and who served in the 
Armed Forces of the United States 90 years ago.
  That's right--90 years ago.
  Mr. President, last month, April 6 marked the 90th anniversary of the 
America's entrance into World War I.
  That was the ``war to end all wars.'' That was the ``war to make the 
world safe for democracy.'' We know that did not happen. But World War 
I was the historic, global conflict that brought the United States onto 
the international scene. And it marked the emergence of the United 
States as a superpower.
  Mr. President, 4.7 million Americans served in the U.S. military 
during that war--the ``great war'' as it was called.
  Of the 4.7 million Americans who served in World War I, only 4 are 
still living. One of them is Mr. Frank Woodruff Buckles of Charles 
Town, WV.
  Mr. Buckles was born in Harrison County, MO, on February 1, 1901, 
about 40 miles from the birthplace of his future commander, GEN John J. 
Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force in World 
War I.
  Mr. Buckles was only 16 years of age when the United States entered 
the war.
  Therefore, when he went to enlist in the Marines in order to fight 
the kaiser, he was rejected because he was too young.
  So he then tried the Navy. This time he was rejected because he was 
flatfooted.
  Determined to serve his country, Mr. Buckles went into the Army. This 
time, he was successful in enlisting because he lied about his age. On 
August 14, 1917, Mr. Buckles enlisted in the United States Army. Four 
months later, in December, 1917, he sailed ``over there'' aboard the 
RMS Carpathia, the vessel that had rescued the survivors of the Titanic 
5 years earlier.
  As a doughboy, Private Buckles drove dignitaries around England and 
an ambulance around France. Mr. Buckles usually downplays his wartime 
experience, explaining: ``There was nothing dramatic about it. 
Sometimes I was driving in Winchester, England, sometimes France.'' But 
his experience was indeed dramatic and it was important. Once war was 
declared, Mr. Buckles did not wait for his country to call him. He went 
from one military service to another until he was able to enlist, even 
if it meant fabricating his age. It was the willingness of 4.7 million 
brave and patriotic Americans to enter the military and to serve our 
country that won that war. On this Armed Forces day, we need to 
remember them as well as the men and women currently wearing our 
Nation's uniforms. We must keep all of them in our hearts and prayers, 
and make sure our country serves them, just the way they have served 
our country.

  Mr. Buckles was discharged from the Army in 1920 at the age of 18. He 
attended business school, and then worked in various jobs in the United 
States and Canada, including a stint in the bond department at Bankers 
Trust in New York City.
  But his love of adventure and sense of excitement eventually led him 
out to sea again, this time working for different shipping lines as a 
purser and quartermaster. He first worked off the coast of South 
America, then on to Europe.
  In the 1930s, his work on a steamship line took him to Nazi Germany, 
where he attended the 1936 Olympics in Munich. Here he saw the great 
Jessie Owens win a gold medal to the great embarrassment of German 
Chancellor Adolph Hitler, who he also saw at the games.
  In 1940, his work on steamship lines then landed him in the 
Philippines. He was working in Manila when the Japanese invaded. Mr. 
Buckles was captured and spent the next 3\1/2\ years in Japanese prison 
camps. Although he was a civilian, he was treated as a prisoner of war. 
At dawn, February 23, 1945, the same day that the American flag was 
raised on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi, the 11th Airborne Division 
liberated Mr. Buckles and his fellow prisoners.
  After his release from prison camps, Mr. Buckles finally decided he 
had enough adventure and excitement. ``I had been bouncing around from 
one place to another for years at sea,'' he explained. ``It was time to 
settle down.'' So he married Audrey Mayo.
  I am pleased to point out that in 1954, Mr. Buckles and his wife 
settled on a 330-acre farm in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, 
the same area where his ancestor, Robert Buckles, had settled in 1732.
  For the next five decades--that's right, five decades--Mr. Buckles 
has continued to operate his beloved farm.
  Maybe it is from breathing that good, clean West Virginia mountain 
air, or, perhaps, it is his own eternal youth and vigor. Whatever the 
reason, at the age of 106, this hardy West Virginian is still going 
strong. He will serve as grand marshal of the World War I section of 
the Memorial Day parade, here in Washington DC. A few years ago, the

[[Page S6260]]

President of France presented Mr. Buckles with the Legion of Honor at a 
ceremony honoring World War I veterans at the French embassy here in 
Washington, DC. And he has been the subject of feature stories in USA 
Today, the Charleston Daily Mail, and ``America's Young Warriors,'' and 
a number of other newspapers and magazines.
  Mr. President, on this Armed Forces Day, I salute this brave and 
patriotic American. And I again salute and thank all those men and 
women serving in our Armed Forces today for their commitment and their 
sacrifice.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, this Saturday, May 19, is Armed Forces 
Day. Celebrated annually on the third Saturday of May, this is a day 
for all of us as Americans to rally around our military members--
wherever they are serving--and thank them for their patriotism and duty 
to country. This day has a long and proud history. With President Harry 
S. Truman leading the effort for this holiday, it came to fruition just 
a few years after the close of World War II. It was at the end of 
August 1949 that Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the 
creation of Armed Forces Day to replace separate days of celebration 
for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. While the roots of 
this celebration may have resulted from the unification of the Armed 
Forces under the Department of Defense, it serves much more than a 
consolidative purpose.
  The account of the first Armed Forces Day is particularly riveting--
as recorded in a page on the official web site of the Department of 
Defense: ``The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated by parades, open 
houses, receptions, and air shows. In Washington DC, 10,000 troops of 
all branches of the military, cadets, and veterans marched pas[t] the 
President and his party. In Berlin, 1,000 U.S. troops paraded for the 
German citizens at Templehof Airfield. In New York City, an estimated 
33,000 participants initiated Armed Forces Day ``under an air cover of 
250 military planes of all types.'' In the harbors across the country 
were the famed mothballed ``battlewagons'' of World War II, the 
Missouri, the New Jersey, the North Carolina, and the Iowa, all open 
for public inspection. Precision flying teams dominated the skies as 
tracking radar [was] exhibited on the ground. All across the country, 
the American people joined together to honor the Armed Forces.''
  It is that last sentence that stands out to me: ``All across the 
country, the American people joined together to honor the Armed 
Forces.'' Let this Saturday be another one of those days. Wherever our 
brave military men and women are this Saturday--be it on the front 
lines in Iraq or Afghanistan, stationed along the DMZ that divides 
North and South Korea, on the open sea across the globe, or training in 
the great American skies above, let's honor them. Let us not forget 
their service and dedication to protecting our freedoms and defending 
our way of life this Saturday and every Saturday, this day and every 
day.
  To all our brave men and women in uniform and your families: thank 
you for your selfless service and sacrifice.

                          ____________________