[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 255-256]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND NATIONAL WWI MEMORIAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, this is a photograph of Frank Buckles. 
It was taken when he was about 16 years of age. He may have been 15; he 
may have been 17.
  You see, Frank Buckles Jr. joined the United States Army in the great 
World War I, and he lied to get into the Army so he could serve America 
in France. They called them doughboys when they went to Europe. He 
drove an ambulance so he could rescue other doughboys who had been 
wounded and killed on the battlefield in Flanders and other places in 
Belgium and France.
  After the great World War I was over with, he came back home to the 
United States, while 114,000 doughboys did not return alive.
  Many of them died from flu that they had contracted in France and 
died in the United States. Four million served, 114,000 died, and Frank 
Buckles Jr. got to come home. After the war was over with, when the 
great World War II started, he was in the Philippines.

                              {time}  1110

  He was captured by the Japanese and held as a prisoner of war for 
3\1/2\ years.

[[Page 256]]

And shortly before he was to be executed by the Japanese, he was 
rescued as other prisoners of war, Americans, Filipinos, were rescued.
  He spent the remainder of his years in the United States. He drove a 
tractor in West Virginia until he was 107. And then last year, at the 
age of 110, Frank Buckles died. Frank Buckles had a mission before he 
died. It was to see that all who lived and died and served in the great 
World War I were remembered by this country. You see, he was the last 
doughboy. He was the last American who died from the great World War I.
  This second photograph is a more recent photograph taken when Frank 
Buckles and I and others were at the D.C. Memorial for World War I 
veterans. Frank Buckles and others, including myself, Members of the 
Senate and Members of this House, wanted to see that the D.C. Memorial, 
which was exclusively to remember the veterans from D.C., great 
Americans who lived, fought, and died representing our country in the 
great World War I, to see that this D.C. Memorial was expanded to not 
only honor the D.C. veterans who served, but all Americans who served 
in World War I. After all, it is on The National Mall where we have 
three other great memorials to the four important wars of the last 
century. You see, America built the Vietnam Memorial, then built the 
Korean Memorial, and then built the World War II Memorial. But there is 
no memorial on The National Mall for all Americans who served in the 
great World War I. And it is time that we do that, that we honor all 
that served, not just the few, but all of them.
  So I've introduced legislation along with my friend from Missouri, 
Emanuel Cleaver, to have legislation that will do three things:
  First of all, it will take this memorial that you see in the back of 
this photograph, the World War I D.C. Memorial. At the time this 
photograph was taken, it was in a state of disrepair. It has since been 
repaired by the National Park Service which oversees the memorial. Take 
this memorial, honor the D.C. vets and expand it to include and make it 
the District of Columbia and National World War I Memorial, maybe even 
give more recognition to the people of D.C. who built the memorial, the 
schoolchildren who collected money so it could be built many years ago, 
but make it a memorial for all who served in World War I.
  The second thing it would do is also designate the Liberty Memorial 
in Kansas City as the World War I Museum, which would be in Kansas 
City, Missouri. You see, it is the museum in the United States that 
honors and recognizes the history of World War I.
  And the third thing that this bill would do is set up a commission so 
America can commemorate World War I. You see, it's almost been 100 
years since that war started. Not much is being said about World War I. 
I asked a person not too long ago what he remembers about World War I 
from history books, and he said, Isn't that the war where Snoopy fought 
the Red Baron?
  Unfortunately, too many Americans know nothing about our history, and 
it's time we do something. And so we're going to have a commission to 
honor World War I and all who served. This commission is not going to 
be paid for by the taxpayers. There's no taxpayer money involved in any 
of this, but it'll be set up to make sure that America remembers the 
100th anniversary, and that anniversary is coming up on us.
  Mr. Speaker, it's one thing to die for your country. It's another 
thing, and the worst casualty of war, to be forgotten by your country.
  And that's just the way it is.

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