WASHINGTON—The last American known to have served in France during World War I was on hand to help Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of the Army Pete Geren unveil a new portrait exhibit at the Pentagon Thursday.
The life of former Cpl. Frank Woodruff Buckles, now 107, mirrors the 20th century, and he remains the only representative of 4.7 million troops who marched off to fight the Kaiser 90 years ago — a generation of veterans now in danger of being forgotten.
Gates praised Buckles’ service and noted that while World War I lacks a national memorial and has failed to capture the American consciousness the way later conflicts have, it set much of the modern world stage.
‘‘The 20th century truly began with an archduke’s assassination in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914,” he said. ‘‘The war, which started as a fight over Balkan independence, left in its wake a redrawn map of Europe and the Middle East including the demarcation of a land in Mesopotamia called Iraq. From Baghdad to Belgrade, the places that mattered then are in the forefront of our consciousness today.”
Helping America Remember
In 2006, photographer David DeJonge set out to help America remember a war that was neither great nor ended all wars, by documenting remaining World War I veterans. By the time he could finance the project, four had died. Five more died within weeks of their sessions, and today only Buckles and Canadian-native John F. Babcock are alive. The collection of nine portraits will remain on permanent display at the Pentagon.
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