Ted Poe: “This is a photograph of Frank Buckles. It was taken when he was about 16 years of age. He may have been 15; he may have…”

“This is a photograph of Frank Buckles. It was taken when he was about 16 years of age. He may have been 15; he may have been 17. You see, Frank Buckles Jr. joined the United States Army in the great World War I, and he lied to get into the Army so he could serve America in France. They called them doughboys when they went to Europe. He drove an ambulance so he could rescue other doughboys who had been wounded and killed on the battlefield in Flanders and other places in Belgium and France. After the great World War I was over with, he came back home to the United States, while 114,000 doughboys did not return alive. Many of them died from flu that they had contracted in France and died in the United States. Four million served, 114,000 died, and Frank Buckles Jr. got to come home. After the war was over with, when the great World War II started, he was in the Philippines. {time} 1110 He was captured by the Japanese and held as a prisoner of war for 3\1/2\ years. And shortly before he was to be executed by the Japanese, he was rescued as other prisoners of war, Americans, Filipinos, were rescued. He spent the remainder of his years in the United States. He drove a tractor in West Virginia until he was 107. And then last year, at the age of 110, Frank Buckles died. Frank Buckles had a mission before he died. It was to see that all who lived and died and served in the great World War I were remembered by this country. You see, he was the last doughboy.…”