Armistice Day brought a different set of worries for the returning soldiers. Buckles remained in Europe after the war and helped transport prisoners back to Germany. He returned to the United States in and left the Army as a corporal. He attended business school in Oklahoma City, worked for the post office, and then landed a job in the freight office of the White Star Line in Toronto.
Buckles spent most of the next 20 years working on cargo and passenger ships in South America and other foreign destinations. On a trip back to Germany in the s, he met German military officers who told him that their country was equipping itself for another war, DeJonge says. After the ship landed, Buckles warned friends and fellow riders at a German equestrian club that Hitler would bring down their nation. He later bumped into the up-and-coming dictator in a Berlin hotel. American President Lines sent Buckles to Manila in as a freight expediter.
Buckles routinely gave his food to the children in the camp and plummeted to about 75 pounds. Buckles also witnessed atrocities, including the deaths of friends and fellow prisoners. A couple of prisoners escaped in late February , reached a detachment of the 11th Airborne, and warned them that the Japanese planned to execute all of the remaining prisoners because they had run out of food.
The 11th Airborne parachuted in the morning of Feb. A slow but steady stream of friends, veterans and others filed past Buckles' casket Sunday afternoon. His relatives were not there. White and two friends, Donna Collis and Marvin A.
Stickel, drove to the visitation from Martinsburg, W. They are planning a candlelight vigil later this month to raise money for Buckles' daughter to use for memorial efforts. Buckles' daughter, Susannah Flanagan, had wanted her father to lie in repose in the U. Last month, Buckles was not strong enough and could not make a trip to Washington to review renovations as they began at the D. War Memorial.
The National Park Service hosted a tour showing the first real improvements in decades at the site, fixing a neglected walkway and dressing up a deteriorated dome and marble columns. Learning of Buckles' decline, the office of Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, sent word to the family last week that "she would like to offer her thoughts and prayers to him," at a time "Mr. Buckles' health has taken a turn for the worse. Even if the monument becomes part of Buckles' legacy, his family is concerned the Pentagon has not fully considered what can be done to honor him after his death.
His daughter says the Military District of Washington will support an honors burial at Arlington, including an escort platoon, a horse-drawn casket arrival, a band and a firing party. B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events.
Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options. A total of 4,, Americans served in the military during World War I, from to More From the Los Angeles Times.
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