Frank Buckles, The Last US WWI Veteran, Turns 110

Frank Buckles is the last remaining U.S. WWI veteran, and he turned 110 today.

Buckles' career might even be more amazing than his age however. The veteran, who served in WWI (and was dragged into WWII), is also the last remaining doughboy. Buckles joined the military at the age of 16, according to CNN.

During WWI, the decorated veteran served as a member of the ambulance corps, evacuating bodies from the battlefield - a particularly gruesome task during the first World War. If that wasn't brave enough, Buckles survived three years in a Japanese POW camp as a civillian after the shipping freighter he was working on was captured, according to CNN.

Buckles has become a living piece of WWI history, especially in recent years. As honorary chairman of the WWI Memorial Foundation, Buckles has served as a spokesman for the group, which aims to repurpose the District of Columbia War Memorial as the National World War I Memorial. The WWI veteran even appeared in front of Congress in December 2009 to plead his case for the memorial.

When Buckles does eventually die, he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery despite not having a Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, or having been killed in action, due to a special approval that he received in 2008.

The U.S. Army Tweeted Buckles Happy Birthday earlier today:

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