Feb 28,2011 [b]: Last US WW1 vet dies
 

http://cellar.org/2011/frankbuckles.jpg

Bullitt suggests this one and, although there haven't been enough IotDs recently, I figured we should make this the "B" image for Feb 28. The passage of time has already gone too long.

The CNN story gives us the details. Frank Buckles died of natural causes. He was 110 years old, born on February 1, 1901.

Buckles is the last WW1 tough guy, and how tough he must have been.

4,734,991 is a remarkable number. I had no idea it was that many. At the time there were only about 100,000,000 people in the entire country, so about 1 in 20 served in an overseas war, at a time when it wasn't so easy to travel overseas. And so many died. Many nations suffered worse losses, but 1918 marks the only year in US history since 1900 when the population of the US actually dropped.

Which makes Buckles' final rest even that much more remarkable. Here is a gentleman who was born only two generations after the US Civil War. We salute you Sir, Rest in Peace.

Amazing. The end of an era.

I remember as a kid, watching parades and seeing vets marching and you'd have a bunch of people for WWII, and just a handful of old men slowly marching along for the WWI group. Now they are all gone. It's sad.

From The Pogues "Waltzing Matilda":

"And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all"

The Pogues did a decent cover of Eric Bogle's "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda".

Bogle, recently retired from performing I believe, is a wonderful storyteller. Seek out more of his work.

I knew I had run into the name Eric Bogle before, but had to go looking to figure it out.

He wrote "If Wishes Were Fishes" an excellent tune which I first heard on the North Sea Gas Keltic Heritage CD.

My mom and I always get teary-eyed at the vets in the parades. I'll have to ask her about her memory of WWI vets. Her uncle was killed in WWII, but I bet there is some WWI history from our family she could tell me about too.

Very sad indeed. And so many died in World War 1, the whole thing is just almost unfathomable.

Thanks for posting this UT. It was buried under all the Oscars bullshit on CNN.com and almost missed it myself. As far as I'm concerned this should be headline news on every outlet in America. He is the last one. The last one. Our country no longer has any living connection to the soldiers of WWI.

Good call.

I don't know who thought up that number of servicemen in Europe, but it's grossly too high.

About 300,000, but add in the Navy and Marines, and it would be closer to 420,00 or so. Not 4.7 million. :eek:

the dramatic loss of Americans was not from WWI, but from the "Spanish Flu" epidemic, that swept around the world in waves. That epidemic killed more people, and more soldiers, than the war did.

The number killed and injured was exceptionally high even so. The tactics used were those of the civil war - against machine guns, modern artillery, and repeating rifles - and poison gas was used, as well. Good example was the attack by the British/Aussies, at Gallipoli, against the defending Turks. Sheer disaster that one. :mad:

But soldiers are people too.

answers.com is not a reliable source. Try a .mil site like here.

The
Very
Last
One...



A few weeks ago I was downtown in my podunk little city of 50k. I saw an obelisk I hadn't really noticed before. On examining it I was surprised to see it was a WWI memorial to the fallen solders from our town. There were more than fifty names on it! I was pretty stunned thinking how many solders must've bought it in that war for my town, which must've only had about 7,000 then, to have lost that many.

In uniform during the war? Yes.

In Europe, or a War Zone during the war? divide by 10 (about 450,000)

The original quote was "Buckles' family asks that donations be made to the National World War I Legacy Project to honor Frank Buckles and the 4,734,991 Americans that he served with during World War I."

If that number served during WW1, then he served with them. The non-combatants also served their country.

From here: "France lost sixteen percent of its mobilized forces, the highest mortality rate relative to troops deployed."

From here:
US lost 116,708 combatants.

That would put us at ~ 25% losses by your numbers. Something doesn't seem right.

I get it now, and Adak's right, the key word here seems to be "mobilized". 4.7 M were "mobilized".

And perhaps it's the difference between mobilization of European soldiers (go right to the battlefield gents, it's 100 yards to your left) and American soldiers (you're trained, in uniform, and have a dog tag, now wait here on base while we find more boats).

My hometown has a doughboy memorial but I dont know how many names are on it. My maternal grandfather was a bugler in that war. He died young, before I was born.

Only two WWI veterans left in the whole world.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...03/3153676.htm

Kansas City is home to the National World War I Museum, constructed beneath the Liberty Memorial, a monument dedicated to those who served in WWI. Tree Fae's father, who has an amazing militariana collection, has long been active with this facility. There will be a ceremony honoring Buckles on March 12.

http://www.theworldwar.org/s/110/new...community.aspx

The Memorial. Yes, we realize it is incredibly phallic, and this is why the park there has long been the premiere trolling spot for gay sex. Seriously.

That's an understatement. It even has testicles!:p:

My grandmother's brother died in that war. He was shot by a German sniper somewhere along enemy lines and died instantly. The war ended one week later.

Bummer. :(

WW1
 

Few people know that the American troops learnt tactics and strategies from the Australian troops during WW1. The Australians had already been fighting for nearly 4 years, when the first American troops arrived to join combat in July 1918.

There was much argument as to who was going to control the American troops. The Australians, who were under British officer control for much of the early part of the War, were verifiably enraged by the British officers incompetence, which led to extreme losses in Australian lives from 1914 to early 1918.

It was only when the Australians demanded that Australian troops be led by Australian officers (who they considered vastly more competent than the British officers) .. that General (later Sir) John Monash was appointed as Commander of Australian troops, with direct planning and control of all Australian forces.

General John Monash was a construction engineer in civilian life, but had an outstanding and unique ability to understand that the tactics required to win a war, involved meticulous planning, the combined co-ordination and use of every new development in war .. such as aeroplanes, tanks, and motorised transport .. along with new ground tactics that evolved from hard Australian experience won in earlier battles.

The result was, that it was agreed, that the first American troops would be placed with, and under the control of the Australians, at the Battle of Hamel.
This was done, so the relatively untested Doughboys and their officers could quickly learn the relevant war tactics needed, and the modus operandi of General Monash's tactics.

The Battle of Hamel was an outstanding result for Monash, and the Australian and American troops. Under Monash's plan, the troops were to seize its objective (the town) in 90 minutes, with minimal troop losses .. unlike most British plans, that cared little about troop losses, that had disorganised tactics, and that would make troops walk straight into massed machine guns.

The Battle of Hamel was concluded in precisely 94 minutes, with the objective successfully seized, and with minimal troop losses, due to the careful co-ordination of artillery, aeroplanes, tanks and troops, as per Monash's precise plan.
The American troops proved themselves worthy fighters .. although the Australians were bemused by the risk-taking, gung-ho, attitude of the Americans .. whereby the Australians were a little more circumspect, and would not unnecessarily risk their lives.

General Sir John Monash went on to win all 15 of the major battles he commanded, from July 1918 onwards .. and it was stated that if Monash had been handed full control of WW1 from the outset, the War would have been won unconditionally in half the time, with minimal troop losses.

The war tactics instigated by Monash are still the same tactics used by the Americans and Australians today, in any war. They are proven tactics, and they were earnt with many tens of thousands of mens lives.
WW1 had a massive impact on Australia, with losses running into hundreds of thousands of men. In every little town in Australia, no matter how small, there is a WW1 memorial with a long list of names on it.
The societal devastation of WW1 on Australia, was more severe than any war before or since .. even WW2.

Interesting reading below, for those interested in the relationships between the Doughboys and the Diggers, in WW1 ..

http://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j35/blair.asp

Interesting info thanks.

You never know. Being "in charge" of all the forces may have made Monash useless, since it's less of an engineering task and more of a paper shuffling political job.

Monash essentially invented Blitzkrieg.

Have you been watching those history programs on the ABC?:eyebrow:

The Aussies have been our best ally. More balls than Canada (leadership), and less political than the Brits (Montgomery).

Mr Choules is with us no more.

Last Aussie, isn't there one more in England... joined the Royal Navy at 14, or something?

The last 3 veterans living in Britain were Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch, they all died in 2009. This leaves the one non-combatant from WW1, Florence Green, who served in the Women's Royal Air Force.

Psst:

Same chap, I think.

Yes, I believe you're right, same guy.
Thanks Quarantine, so the combatants are gone.