WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Alex X. Mooney introduced a bill to rename the United States Postal Service located at 101 West Washington Street in Charles Town, West Virginia, as the “Corporal Frank Buckles Post Office.” Corporal Buckles was the last living American doughboy to have served in France during World War I and the last of 4.7 million U.S. troops who signed up to fight the Kaiser 94 years ago.
“Frank Buckles was a great American hero who dedicated his life to our country and freedom,” said Congressman Mooney. “Corporal Buckles called West Virginia home for over 50 years. He is a shining example of what public service should be and that legacy should be honored with this legislation. I hope to see the Charles Town post office renamed in his honor.”
Buckles enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 by claiming he was 18, rather than his actual age of 16. He drove an Army ambulance in France in 1918. Buckles later spent three years as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II after being captured in the Pacific while serving as a U.S. contractor. After his internment camp was liberated in February 1945, Buckles returned home and married Audrey Mayo. In 1954, the couple moved to a 330-acre West Virginia cattle farm. Buckles continued to live on his farm and reportedly drove a car and a farm tractor until he was 102. Corporal Buckles lived to the age of 110 and passed away of natural causes in 2011 at his farm in Charles Town.