Continued from yesterday.
Bill Lohman visited Mr. Buckles last year and chatted about one of Buckle's favorite people, Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing. "How many people can you talk to who actually knew Pershing when he was leader of US forces in Europe in World War I?"
An age lie got Missouri farm boy Buckles into service at age 16 so he was just a "kid" when he met Pershing who noticed his accent and asked where he had been born. Buckles told him and Pershing replied, "Thirty-three miles, as the crow flies, from where I was born."
Buckles wanted the quickest route to the front and joined the ambulance service and shipped off to England in late 1917, arriving in France a few months before the end of fighting. After the war, he escorted German prisoners back to their country.
He wasn't so lucky in World War II. Although no longer in the military at the time, he was working as a civilian in the steamship business when the Japanese captured the Philippines and he was held prisoner for more than three years.
Mr. Buckles is very active in trying to get a World War I Memorial in Washington, DC.
Quite a Gentleman. --DaCoot
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