Last WWI 'doughboy' dies at 110

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - He didn't seek the spotlight, but when Frank Buckles outlived every other American who'd served in World War I, he became what his biographer called "the humble patriot" and final torchbearer for the fading memory of that conflict.

Buckles enlisted in World War I at 16 after lying about his age. He died Sunday on his farm in Charles Town, nearly a month after his 110th birthday. He had devoted the last years of his life to campaigning for greater recognition for his former comrades, prodding politicians to support a national memorial in Washington and working on a biography with friend and family spokesman David DeJonge.

Only two known veterans remain, according to the Order of the First World War, a Florida group of descendants of WWI veterans who include Buckles' daughter, Susannah Flanagan.

The survivors are Florence Green in Britain and Claude Choules in Australia. Choules served in the British Royal Navy. Green turned 110 on Feb. 19, and Choules turns 110 this month, he said.

Buckles, born in Missouri in 1901 and raised in Oklahoma, visited a string of military recruiters after the United States entered what was called "the war to end all wars" in April 1917. He was repeatedly rejected before convincing an Army captain he was 18. He never saw combat, serving in England and France mainly as a driver and a warehouse clerk.

More than 4.7 million joined the U.S. military in the years 1917-18. By 2007, only three survived.

The family is planning a burial in Arlington National Cemetery, thanks to friends who persuaded the federal government in 2008 to make an exception to its rules on who can be interred there.

Buckles had been eligible to have his cremated remains housed at the cemetery, but burial normally requires meeting several criteria, including earning one of five medals, such as a Purple Heart.

"We have lost a living link to an important era in our nation's history," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. "But we have also lost a man of quiet dignity, who dedicated his final years to ensuring the sacrifices of his fellow 'doughboys' are appropriately commemorated."