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An Era Passes

February 28, 2011 16:09:34.167

Our last living WWI veteran has passed on:

Frank Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of the First World War, has died just weeks after his 110th birthday. Born 1 February 1901, Buckles had lied about his age to join the Ambulance Corps, where he served on the Western Front. He was one of nearly 5 million Americans who would serve in that war, a war in which 118,000 US servicemen would be killed in action in a little over seven months of combat.

One of my grandfathers fought in that war; my daughter is named after him. I've read a lot about that war, and the tragic impact that it continues to have on the modern era (highly recommended: A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East ). As Lincoln said, the silent artillery of time has done its work.

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posted by James Robertson

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