Frank Buckles

Vaughn McMillan

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
36,056
Location
ABQ NM
Another era passes. I'm old enough to remember when the last Civil War veteran died. That was really amazing to me because the Civil War seemed so long ago. To my dad, who was born in 1908 in the south, the Civil War was prominent in his "memory" because, as a young boy, he knew many people who had participated in the war.

Mike
 
There was quite a story about him Yahoo this morning... he was only 16 when he lied about his age to join the army... Marines and Navy both turned him down as being too young and having flat feet. He also spend 3 years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philipines during WWII as a civilian prisoner.....
 
A bit off track

Hi,

My wife's mother, Bertie Glendening, came West in a covered wagon and flew back to visit in a 707 jet.

I put this in to emphasize the change in lifestyle for the people who lived through that era.

I know it is typically not supposed to be that way---However, I really miss my Mother-in-law. She was a great lady. She had stamina that would put most people to shame. My wife said that Bertie could out work her any day---I think Bertie was about my age at that time (86).

Thanks for bringing back some neat memories.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
It's an amazing story.

He entered the military in 1917. My dad was born in 1919 and served in WWII, Mr Buckles outlived my dad by 18 days.
 
The last Canadian WW1 vet died just over a year ago at 109. I seem to recall that he had a similar story about lying about his age to join up.

As a side note here is a picture that my mother in law took of a friend of hers, an old timer in Dawson City in 1935. She was 22 at the time. She is 98 now and is still very spry and with it. It got me thinking that between these 2 folks they span 170 years so far, 1841 - 2011.
 

Attachments

  • Curley Cameron (old Timer) age 94 1935.jpg
    Curley Cameron (old Timer) age 94 1935.jpg
    73.1 KB · Views: 17
Wow, Brian...being 94 years old in back in 1935 was a pretty rare feat. Folks didn't tend to live as long back then as they do now.
 
Wow, Brian...being 94 years old in back in 1935 was a pretty rare feat. Folks didn't tend to live as long back then as they do now.

Yeah Vaughn, he must have had good genes. When you think about it he would have been 55+ when he crossed over the White Pass and to do that the Sourdoughs had to pack a years worth of supplies with them or the Mounties wouldn't let them in, and as Chuck said he looks real good for 94.

The reason the picture is captioned is that I scanned all the pictures that Yvonne had in a big old photo album, put captions on them in large print so that she could read them and put them in a digital photo frame for her 96th birthday. I was sure glad that she had the good sense to make notes in the album as to who and what the pictures where about.

I didn't mean to run off with your thread about Mr. Buckles but the idea of living so long just got me thinking.

Here is another interesting picture from her album:
 

Attachments

  • 1st Car in Alaska.jpg
    1st Car in Alaska.jpg
    100.4 KB · Views: 11
Top