America's Last World War I Vet Passes Away

Frank Buckles, the last American veteran of World War I, passed away in West Virginia at the age of 110, closing the door on a chapter of American history. He was the last of the doughboys as American soldiers of the war were called.

It is with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Mr. Buckles, said Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. As the last surviving veteran of the First World War, he served as a symbol not only of his own service and sacrifice, but also that of the other 4.7 million Americans who served alongside him.

I truly believe that Mr. Buckles embodied the best of what America has to offer. The courage and patriotism required for him to leave home as a 16-year-old and enlist in the military during a time of war speaks volumes about his character and commitment to this country, added Miller. Stories like Frank Buckles' and other great patriots, remind us of the importance of remembering the sacrifices of our veterans, not just on Veterans Day and Memorial Day, but every other day. It is because of the actions of these individuals that we are able to enjoy the freedoms that they fought to protect.

While Florida housed some naval bases in the war, the Great War, as it was called, did not impact the Sunshine State the way that other conflicts -- namely World War II -- did. But reading information on the fallen and going through the 39 rolls of information at the National Archives on the men drafted from Florida holds the human interest -- and then some.

Whenever I tour a battlefield or military monument, I go out of my way to pay homage to the war dead from the Sunshine State. Sometimes its easy to miss them. I wandered aimlessly across the cemetery outside of Franklin, Tenn., where six Floridians fell in that ghastly Civil War battle, before finally finding their markers.

I have promised myself to one day see the military cemeteries of fallen American servicemen in Europe. Almost 200 Floridians who lost their lives during World War I are buried in seven American military cemeteries in France. A stunningly high percentage of the young men from Florida who lost their lives were killed in the final weeks of the war, late October and early November 1918. Some of the doughboys from the Sunshine State, buried in France, died in 1919 -- victims of their wounds and the influenza epidemic that swept the world after the war.

Even the ones who survived the war were not always lucky. During the Great Depression, hundreds of former doughboys would head to veteran camps throughout the state, looking for work. In the hurricane that swept through Key West in 1935, an estimated 250 veterans of the war lost their lives.

Its easy to forget American involvement in World War I. The American role in the war simply lacked the drama or the sweeping victories of the Civil War or World War II. To some, American involvement in World War I remains a mistake (Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan come to mind) and an argument can be made that the rise of Soviet Russia and of Nazi Germany would have been far different -- and perhaps would have never taken place -- had America not entered the war in early 1917. The fact that hundreds of thousands of men fought for four years in massive lines of trenches over inches and yards remains almost incomprehensible almost a century later.

But while it may be easy to forget the war, we should never forget the Americans whose lives were forever impacted -- and far too many ended -- by it. Time will not dim the glory of their deeds, noted Gen. John J. Pershing of Americas dead from the war. It hasn't.