Cord Byrd: “this week, I was pleased to participate in a celebration of a true American hero, a West Virginia legend, and a friend…”

“this week, I was pleased to participate in a celebration of a true American hero, a West Virginia legend, and a friend, Mr. Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of World War I. His has always been a life of excitement and adventure, an example of living life to the fullest. His career in the steamship business in the 1920s and 1930s took him to Nazi Germany, where he saw the German dictator, Adolph Hitler, at the 1936 Olympics, and witnessed the great Jesse Owens win 4 Gold Medals. In the 1940s, his work took him to the Philippines, where he was captured and spent three and one-third years until the end of World II in a Japanese POW camp. Here he led his fellow prisoners in calisthenics, as well as a number of Japanese guards who put down their guns and joined in. That would have been more than a lifetime of experiences for most mortals, but not Mr. Buckles. His life had just begun because, after the war, he married and became a West Virginian and a farmer! For the next 50 years, Mr. Buckles has experienced and enjoyed life as a farmer in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. At 107 years of age, he still operates his 330-acre cattle farm. He remains an avid reader. For example, he recently read my book, ``Losing America.'' Every year, on his birthday, he takes my staffer, Ms. Martha Anne McIntosh, out to dinner at the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown. Now that is impressive!”