“Project set to honor Buckles” |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:29 PM PST CHARLES TOWN - Great American heroes are often commemorated with grand statues, and although World War I veteran Frank Woodruff Buckles doesn't consider himself a hero, he's certainly a national treasure. There's a move afoot to raise money for the creation of bronze sculptures that would honor Buckles, who is the last surviving American World War I veteran, and one of only three WWI veterans left in the world. Fundraising efforts also will focus on creating a documentary on Buckles' life, and the campaign will kick off Monday - just before his 110th birthday on Tuesday. The scale of the statues and the number would depend on the amount of money raised, but the biggest tentative plan calls for a sculpture of Pershing's riderless horse - as seen in ceremonial parades in honor of Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing - being led by a statue of Buckles. The veteran, who lives on a farm near Charles Town, said in a past interview that one of his priceless memories is meeting Pershing, who was the commander of U.S. forces in WWI, when he was visiting Oklahoma City in 1920. "I'm probably the only person left in the world today who met Gen. Pershing," Buckles said. If there's enough monetary support, multiple statues could be created - one near Buckles' farm, one at his boyhood home in Missouri and even one in France. The length of the documentary also depends on the amount of money raised, and family spokesperson and biographer David DeJonge said the fundraising campaign is going to be an international effort. "All of the pieces are there, we just need the finances to put it all together," DeJonge said in a phone interview Friday. He began working on the documentary about Buckles' life four years ago, after meeting him and eight other WWI veterans as part of a portrait project that's now on permanent display at the Pentagon. Buckles has since become the sole U.S. survivor of the "war to end all wars." DeJonge said he remembers feeling honored to meet Buckles, and he thought, "Obviously this is not just an old man - this guy's incredible." Buckles certainly has plenty of stories to share for the film, which is aptly called "Pershing's Last Patriot." After working as a banker at the age of 15, he decided that he wanted to enlist in the military when WWI propaganda posters caught his eye. He enlisted on Aug. 14, 1917, when he was 16 years old, after fibbing about his age to an Army recruiter. Buckles sailed to Scotland aboard the Carpathia before serving two years overseas during the Great War. He served in England and France, and worked as an ambulance driver. After Armistice Day, he was assigned to a prisoner-of-war escort company to help return prisoners to Germany. Buckles returned to the United States in 1920 as a corporal. Years later, he himself was captured as a prisoner of war at the beginning of World War II, when he was working as a civilian for a shipping company in the Philippines. He spent more than three years in Japanese prison camps in Santo Tomas and Los Banos, and he was rescued on Feb. 23, 1945. One of the people interviewed for the documentary helps reveal that stunning piece of Buckles' life - his rescue, after he'd fought starvation for years and watched many of his fellow POWs die. "It really puts things in perspective for what Frank went through," DeJonge said of the interview with a WWII veteran who helped free Buckles. Other people's interviews for the documentary already have been filmed, including Buckles' only child, Susannah Buckles Flanagan. She and her husband live with Buckles on his farm. U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., also will be interviewed for the documentary - in part because of his strong support to dedicate a national WWI memorial in Washington, D.C., in Buckles' lifetime. The veteran has been recognized many times during his long life. One of his most significant awards came from former French President Jacques Chirac in 1999 at the French Embassy in Washington, when Buckles received the French Legion of Honor pin and spoke to Chirac in French. Buckles met with former President George W. Bush and top Pentagon officials in March 2008, and he received the Distinguished West Virginian Award from then-Gov. Joe Manchin in August 2007. The fundraising campaign that kicks off this week will support Survivor Quest, the nonprofit organization behind the documentary. DeJonge said the initial fundraising goal will be set at about $125,000 to $150,000 through the website Kickstarter.com. "The more money that gets raised, the better the film will get," he said, adding that the documentary will be the first focus of the campaign, and fundraising efforts for the bronze statues will follow. "We have people from all over the world who are interested" in helping to create the documentary, he added. "I literally have 27,000 e-mails from all over the world." So far, DeJonge has self-funded the documentary - he joked that his children have had to go without braces because so much of his energy and finances have been tied into filming. "It's been a very incredible journey," he said. "Obviously I have no regrets. You can't put a price on spending time with Frank." Now he hopes that the interest Buckles has received will turn into substantial funding, in order to help share the last doughboy's remarkable story with an international audience. - City Editor Beth Henry can be reached at 304-263-8931, ext. 129, or bhenry@journal-news.net This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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