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Inquirer Editorial: WWI's last vet

Frank W. Buckles quit school at age 16 and bluffed his way into the Army to find adventure. That was in 1917 during World War I.

Frank W. Buckles quit school at age 16 and bluffed his way into the Army to find adventure. That was in 1917 during World War I.

Buckles went on to live quite an adventure in a life that spanned more than a century. His place in history was secured decades later when the Department of Veterans Affairs declared Buckles the last living U.S. soldier from World War I.

The last doughboy died Sunday at his West Virginia farm, at age 110.

With him went a link to the so-called war to end all wars. Buckles was one of nearly 5 million Americans who served in the military during World War I.

In 19 months of fighting, 116,516 died. Like the soldiers that came before and afterward, they fought to keep America safe and free.

Buckles was born under a lantern's light in a farmhouse in Missouri and went on to have his own Facebook page.

During the war, he served as an ambulance driver behind enemy lines and avoided the worst of the deadly fighting. But Buckles said he "saw the results."

After the war, Buckles traveled the world working on commercial ships. In 1941, he was captured in the Philippines and spent 38 months as a civilian prisoner of war during World War II.

In 2008, Buckles was declared the last living U.S. veteran of WWI. He received many letters and visitors, and was honored by Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon.

"I feel like an endangered species," Buckles joked. Indeed, he was the last American WWI hero.