Apparently is Frank Buckles, of Charles Town, WV. Born in 1901, he lied about his age to join the Army. He is the last man left from the American Expeditionary Force of two million men.
When Mr. Buckles dies, he should receive a full state funeral. Not just for himself, but as the representative of all of those men who did go over there.
(And yes, when the last veteran of World War II dies, he or she should have one, too, for the exact same reason.)
If you agree that this is a worthwhile honor to grant to Mr. Buckles, again, as the last survivor of the AEF, I ask three things of you:
1) Write your congressman and senators;
2) Write your newspapers; and
3) If you have a blog, write about this. Let's see if we can make this happen.
(And please do not make an attribution to me, this is not a way for me to generate visitors to this blog. )
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9 comments:
Ah yes, WWI. Yet another clusterfuck where a deluded leader thought that a "war to make the world safe for democracy" was a good deal for the USA, and instead only made the world safe for Adolf Hitler and Stalin. We should have never mucked around int he war. Meddling around in other parts of the world trying to impose democracy at gunpoint when we haven't been attacked has always been a bad idea. I wonder what Hitler or Stalin is going to arise from our little war for democracy in the Middle East?
- Badtux the History Penguin
Whether or not I agree with you, Badtux, do you think that this would be a fitting honor to those men who fought in that war or not?
Oh yes, by all means there should be a solemn ceremony when this guy dies. Too many Americans lost their lives to make the world safe for Hitler and Stalin. If we had not interfered in WWI and let the Europeans fight themselves to exhaustion and come to a reasonable peace treaty instead of the horrific one eventually imposed, over 50,000,000 people would not have died between Hitler's purges and Stalin's purges (not to mention that we would not be fighting in Iraq, since there would be no Iraq if the Ottomon Empire had not been broke up in the aftermath of the war), but that wasn't something that the poor slobs fighting a rich man's war could have known.
Badtux,
No one I know of is attempting to justify or glorify war on Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Veterans Day or whatever you care to call it. Your facts are interesting, but the most important thing for me at this time of year is the sad truth that it happens at all.
Personally I'm thankful to all those Americans who were willing to fight in WW1 (a little late, but the threat of shear U.S. force was definitely a factor in ending it, I think). If it had gone on much longer, my grandfather may not have survived, henceforth my father wouldn't have been born, therefore I wouldn't be here.
As far as my father goes, I also thank the crew members of the two American destroyers who escorted the crippled submarine he was on to safety, protecting it from aerial assault. My reasons are similar to those I've already stated.
I should clarify my last comment. My father was a radio operator on the HMS Shakespeare, during WW11. It wasn't 'til I posted the comment that I realized I hadn't specified which war he had been in. Ooops.
So...you got a visitor via the Cranky Prof. If you can find me you can shoot me!
I reckon that defending democracy when you haven't been personally attacked is and always has been one of the few laudable reasons for fighting? It's always been easy to declare war when it's YOUR wife or home that's being defended, but the American soldiers who enlisted and fought and often died, in the last century were mostly doing it for people they would never meet. The consequences are never infallible. If not Hitler or Stalin, there are/were a whole lot worse. Try Lenin/Pol Phot/Ho Chi Minh/Castro/ Guevara/Machel/Verwoed as a handful. I'd rather have the maybe misguided but honest American alternatives.
BTW...I thought it was against the US constitution to be a gun-owning Democrat???
If you can find me you can shoot me!
Promises, promises.
I agree with BadTux. WWI was a disaster and the poor sods who fought it were undoubtedly to blame so why honor them? The last thing we want to do is give Mr Buckles any kind of state funeral, it might remind people that the war to end all wars, wasn't.
It might even cause them to stop and think about Clausewitz' maxim "only an idiot starts a war without knowing exactly what he wants to accomplish, and how." God forbid we should expect anyone to learn that disasters routinely arise from the ashes of best intentions.
Besides, Mr Buckles is what, 106 years old? He's probably been collecting all kinds of lavish government benefits for years! If his family -- that is, if he has any left -- can't afford to bury him, why should we foot the bill? He's been feeding at the public trough long enough.
One of the problems with these internets is figuring out whether someone is being sarcastic or not. The guy in question didn't start the war and is guilty of nothing other than being young and believing his leaders.We should indeed give him a state funeral when he dies, in memory of those similarly guilty of nothing but being young and innocent who did not come home due to old men's lies.
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