Final U.S. World War One Veteran Turns 109
Frank Buckles, a former Corporal in the United States Army and the final surviving U.S. veteran of World War One, celebrated his 109th birthday on February 1.
But what is perhaps the most interesting about Buckles isn’t his age, but rather his goal to encourage lawmakers to renovate the World War One memorial in Washington D.C. and give it national monument status. In December, at a spritely 108 years old, Buckles spoke in front of Congress on this matter to convince them to allocate funding to fix the current monument and to set it equally among the others that adorn the nation’s capital.
He had previously visited the monument, being pushed in his wheelchair by a military aid, and noticed that the area is overgrown, the surrounding stonework is cracked and the soldiers represented there are only from the District of Columbia. The place is in need of some serious work and deserves the recognition that other national monuments have received.
Congress hasn’t yet decided what they would like to do. They have the monument in Washington D.C. and a rival monument that was built around 1920 in Kansas City to consider. Why Congress doesn’t feel that the national monument belongs in the nation’s capital is anyone’s guess. Only time will tell if Buckle’s goal will be realized. At 109, time isn’t exactly on his side. But if he’s made it this long, hopefully he’ll stay around for a little while longer.
To read the original article, please go to
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/31/world.war.one.vet.memorial/index.html?hpt=T2