U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today issued a statement on the final ceremony to honor the last-surviving American World War I veteran Frank Buckles, who passed away February 27th at the age of 110. Buckles, a Bethany, Missouri native will lie in honor at Arlington National Cemetery, followed by a private burial service with full military honors. Born in 1901, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1917, telling officials he was older in order to be eligible to serve. McCaskill said that today’s ceremony reaffirms the need to honor the veterans of World War I by giving both Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial and Washington, D.C.’s World War I memorial national memorial status.
“As we pay our final respects to Mr. Buckles at our country’s most sacred ground, we not only honor his legacy of courage and determination, but an entire generation of men and women who proudly fought for the freedoms we cherish today,” McCaskill said. “Mr. Buckles was able to keep the memory of the Great War living for so long, but now that he’s gone we need to make sure that the sacrifices of this extraordinary generation will be memorialized for all generations to come.”
McCaskill has been working to dedicate the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City as a national place of honor for World War I veterans. Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to dedicate the Liberty Memorial of Kansas City as the “National World War I Museum and Memorial”. It would also designate the District of Columbia War Memorial as the “District of Columbia and National World War I Memorial.” The legislation, Senate Bill 523, is pending in the Senate.
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