Last living WWI vet from Missouri

Last living WWI vet from Missouri


World War I, the war to end all wars, ignited on the European continent in 1914; collateral conflicts eventually surfaced in the far reaches of the globe.


The United States entered the war in 1917, and when the fighting stopped Nov. 11, 1918, several million U.S. military personnel began the process of returning to their homes and the routine of a peaceful society. At least for now, many felt they had made the world a safe place again.

Dec. 20, 2007, J. Russell Coffey of North Baltimore, Ohio, died at the age of 109. His passing left only two U.S. veterans of World War I: Harry Richard Landis, 108, of Sun City Center, Fla., and Frank Woodruff Buckles of Charles Town, W.V., who turned 107 Feb. 1. Landis died Feb. 4, leaving Buckles as the living legacy of the millions of U.S. citizens who made up the military might of our country in the Great War.

But what a strange, unique coincidence it is both Landis and Buckles were born in Missouri, the state which also produced two of the most iconic characters of World War I, Harry Truman and John Pershing.

Not to be forgotten, the only known Canadian veteran remaining lives in Spokane, Wash. John Babcock served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1916-18. He joined the U.S. Army in the 1920s and became a U.S. citizen in 1946. As of Jan. 20, 2008, France had one known veteran left from the war; the only known German veteran remaining died Jan. 1.

As late as 1997, the United States had approximately 6,800 World War I survivors, with Missouri alone claiming about 200. The last two World War I veterans living in Missouri were 105-year-old Jacob Robb, who died March 4, 2004, and, his brother, the Rev. Fred Robb, who died March 28, 2005, at the age of 108. They grew up at Wentworth with Fred serving in both World Wars.

Harry Landis

Harry Richard Landis, one of eight siblings, was born Dec. 12, 1899, on a farm near Palmyra. He enrolled in what now is Central Methodist College in Fayette, joining the Student Army Training Corps Oct. 14, 1918.

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Drilling in the morning and attending classes in the afternoon, Landis and his fellow recruits got their uniforms a piece at a time, acquiring all of it just before the war's end.

In addition to a good deal of marching, Landis spent many hours cleaning an on-campus, make-shift ward for Spanish influenza victims. Though millions died worldwide from this pandemic, Landis' ability to resist illness saw him through. Even at the time of his death, his uncanny, healthy constitution permitted him to require only eye drops as a daily medicine.

After the war's end on Nov. 11, 1918, Landis' military unit disbanded. He made another effort to serve his country in 1941, but was rejected as too old.

Taking the role as a teacher and coach for several years after college, Harry then worked in private business with the S.S. Kresge Company, which later became better known as Kmart. He moved to Florida in 1988 with his wife Eleanor, who is herself 100 years old. His first wife Eunice died after 46 years of marriage. Landis' remains were to be interred beside hers at Gower.

Frank Buckles

Buckles was born in Harrison County, a few miles south of Bethany Feb. 1, 1901. His birthplace was only about 50 miles from the rural Laclede childhood home of Gen. John Pershing, commander of all U.S. forces in Europe in the World War I.

Moving later to the small community of Coffey (Davies County) where Frank started school, the Buckles family then bought a farm in Vernon County near Walker in 1910. At Walker, Buckles was only 25 miles from the Lamar birthplace of Harry Truman, who served as a captain in the 35th Division of the Missouri National Guard Field Artillery before finding a new home in the White House a few years later during another world war.

Buckles attended school in the Walker District until December of 1916, his sophomore year, at which time the family made another move.

Oakwood, Okla., then with a population of about 300, became the new home for the Buckles clan. During the move, Buckles escorted a boxcar load of draft horses and farm equipment - riding in the boxcar with the horses.

Buckles attended school and worked at a bank in Oakwood until the summer of 1917. The United States had entered the European conflict in April, and the ambitious, patriotic Buckles did not intend to miss out on the adventure. After a series of failed attempts to join the U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy, the determined 16-year-old was able to outlast the scrutiny of the U.S. Army recruiting office in Oklahoma City and enlisted Aug. 14, 1917.

Until this time, Buckles was known only by his birth name, Wood Buckles. He meshed his name with that of a relative, Frank Woodruff, to satisfy the U.S. Army's requirement of three names for each soldier.

An old sergeant advised the fastest way to the action in France was in the Army Ambulance Service, so Buckles signed up and was sent to Fort Riley in Kansas for training in Ambulance Service and Trench Retrieval. His 102-man unit was titled the First Fort Riley Casual Detachment. They set sail for Europe from Hoboken, N.J., in Dec. 1917, aboard the H.M.S. Carpathia, the ship that sailed to the rescue of the White Star Liner Titanic's survivors in 1912. Several who had participated in the rescue still were aboard the Carpathia.

The unit was eventually based near Winchester, England, where Buckles served as a driver for an ambulance, as well as for visiting dignitaries.

Buckles finally garnered the opportunity he coveted when he was assigned to escort an officer to France. Once there, he was given various assignments at several locations in the war-torn country. After the Armistice Nov. 11, 1918, he was assigned to a prisoner of war escort company, whose job it was to return German prisoners back to their homeland.

He returned to the United States in January 1920 on the U.S.S. Pocahontas. After business school and a postal job, he was hired by the White Star Line Steamship Company in Toronto, Canada, as well as the Great Northwest Telegraph Company.

In 1921, he took a position with the prestigious Banker's Trust Company at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street in New York City. He eventually returned to the shipping business, working several years with passenger and cargo ships around South America. In 1940, a new shipping position took him to Manila in the Philippines. Unfortunately, the Japanese invaded in December 1941.

As a result, Frank was held prisoner for 3-1/2 years, first at the Santo Tomas prison camp, and then the Los Banos prison. He and his fellow prisoners were rescued in a daring raid Feb. 23, 1945, by the U.S. 11th Airborne Division.

Buckles married in 1946 and eventually moved back to the area near Charles Town, W.V., where his ancestors settled in the 1730s. His wife Audrey passed away in 1999, but Frank still helps manage his 330-acre cattle farm with his daughter and son-in-law.

For a man of 107 years, Buckles still has a very sharp mind and memory. He enjoys discussing events in his life and answering his mail, having done numerous interviews for historical societies and veteran projects. His travels and experiences go well beyond what can be managed in this article. It would be a major understatement to say he has led a full life, and still enjoys each day as it comes.

In our cell phone and computer constricted age of jet travel and space shuttles, it is difficult to imagine the different world Frank Woodruff Buckles grew up in, being born two years before the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk. It is hard for us to grasp the thoughts of a man who crossed the Atlantic with rescuers of the Titanic's survivors. We would struggle to put ourselves in the mind of a man who conversed with World War I German prisoners as they trekked toward their homeland across the muddy, alien moonscape of 1918 France.

And Frank's post-war memories of international travel and being held prisoner himself, as well as his peacetime life, are enough for a separate story. But we can be proud of, and thankful for, the contributions Buckles and people like him have made toward our world in both peace and war.

We can acknowledge and be grateful for the sacrifice of time from the prime years of their youth they willingly gave toward a noble cause. And as the sun slowly sets on a time and world that can seem surreal for us to contemplate, we can vow to do one important thing - remember.

And people of Missouri should know and be proud of the fact their state's rural regions have produced such fine men as John Pershing, Harry Truman, Harry Landis and Frank Woodruff Buckles.

Mike Shores is a Lockwood junior high school social studies teacher who enjoys American history. He interviewed Frank Buckles via telephone and in person.

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I envy Mike Shores his chance to speak with Frank Buckles, my father is basically or would have been the same age, my father was born Feb 24 1900. My father and his brother Gideon were put into the army in 1914 after their mother died by his step sister and her husband, they did not want to care for the boys. So they got them in the Army, they were both sent to the same unit D Troop 7th Calvary based in Douglas, Arizona a border town. They rode in the Mexican Expeditionary force under General John "Blackjack" Pershing after Pancho Villa, they were lucky they were discharged before the US got involved in WW1 and like Mr Buckles they were judged to be to old for WW2. My dad spent WW2 building tanks in Michigan. I imagine Mr Buckles could tell me a lot about the Army back then and the lifestyle he and my dad would have shared or at least similar experiences.

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