[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 19400-19402]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      FRANK BUCKLES--LONE SURVIVOR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 
60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, they went off to war singing George M. 
Cohan's song, ``Over There,'' something to the effect that ``Over 
there, over there, send the word to beware that the Yanks are coming, 
the Yanks are coming and we won't be back till it's over over there.'' 
Those were the World War I doughboys, as they were called in the great 
World War I.
  One of those individuals is Frank Buckles. Frank Buckles is an 
interesting individual. He was born in 1901, February 1, and he was 
born in Kansas. And when he was 16, the great World War I had already 
started. And he was at the Kansas State Fair, and he saw a recruiting 
poster, ``Uncle Sam Wants You.'' So he went to a local marine 
recruiter, wanted to join the United States Army to go fight the war to 
end all wars over there in Europe. The marines wouldn't take him. 
You're too small and you are not 18 years of age. And he continued to 
try to get in to the Marine Corps.

                              {time}  1420

  Finally, he decided he would try the United States Army. He went all 
the way to Oklahoma City. Being only 16 as he said later, I decided to 
really tell them a whopper and tell them I was 21. The Army recruiter 
said, Okay, we will sign you up. And he joined the United States Army 
after vigilantly telling people he was 18 when he was only 16, a 
volunteer to go fight in that war.
  He signed up for the ambulance service, and the reason he signed up 
for the ambulance service was because he heard that was the quickest 
way to get to the battlefield to help other young Americans that were 
already fighting that war to end all wars. And so he went overseas. He 
served in France. He drove an ambulance. He rescued not only Americans 
but the other allies that had been wounded and took them back behind 
enemy lines.
  After the war was over with in 1918, having joined in 1917, Frank 
Buckles continued in Europe until he was discharged, protecting and 
guarding German prisoners of war. He came back to the United States, 
and before he was discharged, he was given $143.60 plus a bonus for 
serving in combat of $60. He came back to America, and of course there 
were not benefits in those days. There was no VA. You just went back 
home and started your own life.
  In the great World War I, over 4 million Americans served; 117,000 of 
them died in Europe. Half of those doughboys died from what they 
obtained, the Spanish flu. Many of them didn't even know it. They got 
back to America and died from the Spanish flu that they had contacted 
while serving overseas.
  Frank Buckles, being the kind of guy he is, he came back home. He 
started a new life. He decided to go to sea. He worked on different 
ships. In 1940, he found himself in the Philippine Islands. And as we 
all remember from American history, the Philippines were invaded by the 
Japanese, and there Frank Buckles was captured by the Japanese. And 
during World War II, he spent 3\1/2\ years in a Japanese prisoner of 
war camp. Having already served in World War I, he lied about his age 
so he could get in as a volunteer. Now in World War II, 3\1/2\ years of 
his life stolen from him by our enemies. He served in that prisoner of 
war camp.
  He was finally released when Americans liberated the Philippines, 
came back to the United States and lived in West Virginia until the age 
of 102, Mr. Speaker, 102. He worked the farm. You know, he chose 
probably the occupation of America's past, the hardworking individual 
that works American soil. And that was Frank Buckles. He worked the 
soil.
  Today, Frank Buckles--and here is his photograph, Mr. Speaker--is 109 
years old. It is an honor for me to call Frank Buckles my friend. This 
photograph was taken in front of the D.C. memorial to World War I 
veterans which I will get to in a minute. So he is 109 years old today. 
Besides his remarkable life that continues, Frank Buckles is the lone 
survivor, the last doughboy alive that served in the United States Army 
and military during World War I.
  There are two other survivors. They are both British individuals. 
They are 109. But he is older than they are. He will soon be 110 in 
February. So he is the last survivor, the last living doughboy that 
served our country.
  He will soon be 110, Mr. Speaker. You know, 110 is old. To put it in 
perspective, it is about half of America's history this one person has 
lived through. He is still the great patriot that he was when he raised 
his right hand as a 16 year old in 1917 and swore to defend the United 
States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, the oath he took to 
uphold the Constitution.
  Now, I mention Frank Buckles in his own right because he is the last 
of this generation, those that lived and fought in World War I. You 
have to remember who these were; these were the fathers of the Greatest 
Generation, those individuals that we hold up, people like my dad who 
is 85 years of age, those who served in the great World War II. Those 
were the fathers of the Greatest Generation, people like Frank Buckles.
  But you see, he still continues to fight for America and really fight 
for people that served in World War I because when I met Frank Buckles 
he was here at the Capitol. His mission now is to make sure that we 
honor as a Nation those who served and came back home in World War I 
and those that served and are still buried in graves only known by God 
in Europe,

[[Page 19401]]

those other doughboys. His goal, and the goal I hope of most Americans 
now, is to make sure that they are properly honored.
  You know, America has moved on since World War I. Not much was said 
after World War I. The American doughboys came home. They didn't have a 
whole lot of fanfare. They just merged back into society. Then all of a 
sudden came the Roaring 20s, the exciting 20s. Then there was the 
Depression for 10 years. Then all of a sudden we were in World War II. 
America just sort of moved on and left that generation the way they 
were when they returned. And I say that to say this: Because you see in 
this great Capitol, the greatest capitol in the world, the center of 
democracy, the center of liberty, the center of people who have values 
like Frank Buckles, we have in my opinion yet to honor these 
individuals. Let me explain.
  Here not far from the Capitol on what we call the Mall, where we have 
the important memorials to America's past, we have built as a Nation 
memorials to three of the great wars of the last century. If you wander 
up and down the Mall, you will see the first memorial that was built. 
They were built in reverse order of when the wars occurred. The first 
one that was built is that black marble granite memorial to those young 
men in Vietnam, the 58,000 that went to Vietnam and came home, or 
rather did not come home. You remember Vietnam, Mr. Speaker, that was 
the war when America, we treated our troopers real bad. As a Nation, we 
treated them real bad when they came home. But we did build them a 
memorial, and it is not far from here. Today and every day when you go 
to the Vietnam Memorial, you will see people who put up flags and write 
notes to those great Americans from Vietnam.
  And after that was built, then there is the memorial that was built 
on the Mall to the Korean war. Some of the politically correct folks 
still call that a conflict. Well, Americans died in the Korean war. We 
went over and fought somebody else's war again. That memorial shows 
that Americans going through a minefield in the snow, a great memorial 
to those Korean veterans, those that lived and those that died.
  And then the most recent one, the one that many Americans are aware 
of because there was so much political fighting whether or not this 
memorial should be built, that is the World War II memorial that is 
built not far from here, that great memorial that honors the Greatest 
Generation, that shows how important it is for us to remember those 
individuals. As I mentioned, people like my dad who served as an 18 
year old in the United States Army in Europe. Many people didn't want 
that memorial built on the Mall. You know, it is built on the Mall. 
They didn't want it built there. Anyway, politics got out of the way 
and Congress approved that memorial.
  But there is no memorial for those who served in the first great war 
of the last century, and that is the World War I memorial. It is true 
there is a memorial near the Mall for those that served from 
Washington, D.C. Here is a photograph of that memorial, and a picture 
of Frank Buckles in front of it.

                              {time}  1430

  This photograph was taken a couple of years ago or, really, a year 
ago when he was there. This memorial is not even on the D.C. maps. Of 
all the things to do and see in Washington, D.C., this memorial is not 
even on there. The only reason I ever saw it is I was running by it one 
day, and I saw this memorial--or this monument, this structure--over in 
the weeds. I went over there and started reading it and realized what 
it was. It is not a fitting memorial but a memorial for the D.C. 
veterans who lived and died during World War I. You can see that it's 
cracked and that the stone is bad. It needs a lot of repairs. Finally, 
the repairs are starting to be made for that.
  Make no mistake about it: this is a memorial for those from 
Washington, D.C. We don't have a memorial on The Mall for those who 
served from all over the United States, an appropriate memorial that, I 
think, should be built. The plan is and Frank Buckles' goal and mine 
and many others is to expand this memorial and to honor all those who 
served in that Great War, now almost 100 years ago.
  There are really no advocates for this. I mean there are no 
lobbyists. There are no veterans left from World War I. No other 
veterans' groups have taken this on to encourage our building this 
memorial for him. An individual by the name of David DeJonge, who is an 
historian and a photographer, started doing research on the last 
survivors of World War I. He has got photographs of all of them, of 
recent date, of those who have died--some of them have died--and he has 
done research on all of them. As I mentioned, there are only three from 
all over the world who fought from all nations, Frank Buckles being one 
of those. Some other individuals are encouraging Congress to give the 
authority to build this memorial.
  In Kingwood, Texas, which is one of the places I represent down in 
Texas, there is an educator there by the name of Jan York. Jan York 
loves America like educators do. She got her Creekwood Middle School 
kids to do research a couple of years ago on World War I and on its 
last survivors, and that's when they came up with Frank Buckles. They, 
too, are passionate about making sure that a memorial is built on The 
Mall for all who served in World War I. Let me mention this:
  There are memorials for the World War I veterans in different places 
in the United States. There is one in Kansas City. But can we have too 
many? Should we not have one on The Mall? I mean this is Washington, 
D.C. When you go through Washington, D.C., you see memorials and 
monuments for all kinds of people--wonderful people. Some of them 
aren't even Americans. The memorials and monuments are appropriate. 
They're needed. But should we not build a memorial on The Mall for all 
of those who served in World War I--the war that was supposed to end 
all wars? I think that we should.
  Anyway, Jan York has helped her school get involved in this, and the 
Creekwood Middle School folks and other schools in the country are 
encouraging Congress to help build a memorial. This memorial is not 
going to be funded by taxpayer money. Don't get me wrong. This is not 
something the taxpayers are going to be required to contribute to. All 
Congress has to do is authorize its being built and there being a 
commission, and then private funds will be collected from groups like 
the Creekwood Middle School.
  I want to thank Senator Rockefeller, who is down the hall in the 
Senate. He is helping to promote legislation that will allow us to move 
forward and have congressional approval to build this memorial on The 
Mall--this appropriate memorial for people like Frank Buckles, who is 
the lone survivor.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is imperative that we as a Nation understand 
our history. Many of us don't think about the past. We only think about 
the future. We think, unfortunately, many times: What can America give 
us? What can America do for us? as opposed to: What can we do for 
America? What can we do for people who have served our great country in 
the military, and what should we do as a Nation to honor those 
individuals?
  America has always had to defend who we are as a Nation. I carry in 
my pocket, like maybe most Members of Congress, this little book, the 
Constitution of the United States, which has not only the Constitution 
but the Declaration of Independence in it as well.
  If we just remember a little bit of history, just a little bit, back 
in the colonial days, in 1776, there were these Americans who did not 
like being treated a certain way by the most powerful empire that had 
ever existed in the history of the world--the British Empire. It was 
the most powerful empire at the time, and it was led by the most 
powerful king, King George. They got together, and they said, You know, 
we are going to liberate ourselves from this type of tyranny, which is 
how they looked at it. So they came up with this Declaration of 
Independence.
  Now, in legal terms, what that meant was they indicted the King of 
England

[[Page 19402]]

for crimes against the United States. Their remedy, the punishment for 
the King and for England, was to separate. They concluded their 
Declaration of Independence, that important document that later led to 
the Constitution, with this phrase:
  ``And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on 
the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other 
our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.''
  Then they had to fight for what they believed in--7, 8 years of long 
war to get this country free. Then it was the War of 1812, the Spanish-
American War, the war with Mexico, World War I, World War II, Korea, 
Vietnam, and we are still engaged in two great wars today.
  In all of those wars, Mr. Speaker, it has been America's youth who 
has gone to war to protect the rest of us. Unlike other countries, it 
has been said that America goes to war not to conquer but to liberate. 
That is true. We've got troops fighting right now, not to conquer but 
to liberate. America goes to battle so that others will live in 
freedom. Our enemies go to battle so that others will die in tyranny. 
That is what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has always been 
the American warrior who has had to protect this document--people like 
Frank Buckles.
  Today, occasionally, we get to see those great warriors from the 
current wars. They come back to this Capitol, and we see them. Many 
Members go visit the wounded warriors. I have had the honor to be in 
Iraq and Afghanistan and see our military in action. The finest 
military that has ever existed in the history of the world represents 
us today.
  Yet, to some extent, at home, America is disengaged. We are more 
interested, unfortunately it seems, in what is in it for us as opposed 
to what is in it for America. Frank Buckles and the generations before 
him and after him have always asked: What is in it for America? What 
can we do for America?--not what America can do for us.
  So it seems to me we owe it to Frank Buckles and we owe it to those 
doughboys who have all died, who have all passed away except him, to 
build and honor them for what they did for the rest of us--for without 
them, we certainly would not be here. Without each generation that has 
been called upon to bear arms to protect our Nation, we would not be 
here. Many of them died at young ages, including those 600,000 
Americans who died in the Civil War, which is when our country went to 
war within itself.
  It would be appropriate that we honor these individuals by approving 
this memorial on The Mall. It would be equally as important that we 
remember Frank Buckles, his being the lone survivor. I hope he lives a 
long time. He told David DeJonge not too long ago, I'm headed to 115.
  Well, the way he is, he may get it. He's just that way.
  Yet, when he passes away, we should honor him as the last doughboy. 
He should lie in state here in the Capitol rotunda. He should be buried 
with full military honors. Our Nation should remember him, as it is 
important we should remember all those who served throughout the United 
States, by building and approving the memorial here on The Mall.

                              {time}  1440

  You know, when they went overseas, they said they weren't coming back 
until it was over over there. They did not come back until it was over 
over there, and they came back victorious. We over here have the 
obligation and the opportunity to get it right over here. And the way 
we get it right is to honor Frank Buckles and honor all of those who 
served in the great World War I, those that served and did not come 
home and those that served and did come home, to continue the American 
way of life and preserving this little document called the Constitution 
of the United States of America.
  And that's just the way it is.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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