Continuing with the excellent article on Frank Buckles in the March 1, 2011, Mississippi Sun Herald.
In the spring of 2007, Frank Buckles told the Associated Press of the trouble he went through to get into the military.
He first tried to get in the Marines at the state fair in Wichita, Kansas, where he was told he was too young at 18 and needed to be 21.
He returned a week later and told the sergeant he was 21. He passed the inspection but was told he wasn't heavy enough.
At the Navy, he couldn't get in because he was flat-footed.
Undaunted, Buckles tried again in Oklahoma City, this time with the Army. The captain there demanded he produce his birth certificate. "I told him birth certificates were not made in Missouri when I was born, that the record was in the family Bible. I said, 'You don't want me to bring the family Bible down, do you?" Buckles said with a laugh. "He said, 'OK, we'll take you.'"
Another Great Generation Passing. --Cooter
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