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Arlington Burial Planned for Last ‘Doughboy’ Frank Buckles

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2011 – America will pay its respects to its last World War I veteran March 15, as former Army Cpl. Frank Buckles is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, talks with Frank Buckles, then age 107, the last known U.S. World War I veteran, during a Pentagon ceremony March 6, 2008. Buckles was honored during the ceremony, which included the unveiling an exhibit of veterans’ portraits by photographer David DeJonge. DOD photo by R.D. Ward

Buckles — the last of the more than 5 million Americans who served during World War I and were known as “doughboys” — died Feb. 22 at his home in West Virginia. He was 110.

He will lie in honor at Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater Chapel from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 15 for the public to pay its last respects. The interment will be at 4 p.m., and the corporal will be buried near the site where General of the Armies John “Black Jack” Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, is buried.

The Pentagon Channel will carry the service.

Buckles was born in Missouri in 1901. He enlisted in the Army in 1917, shortly after the United States declared war on Germany and its allies. He served as an ambulance driver on the Western Front.

In 1941, Buckles was in the Philippines, working in Manila, when Japan invaded the island nation. The Japanese captured him and confined him at the Los Banos prison with 2,200 other American civilians. U.S. forces liberated the camp in 1945.

President Barack Obama has ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half staff in Buckles’ honor March 15.

Two men in Great Britain are believed to be World War I’s last living veterans. Both are 110 years old.

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Veteran Wade Chism laughs and interacts with Animal Assisted Therapy dog, Poppy.

Photo by Robin Risemas, Office of Public Affairs.

Animal Assisted Therapy comes to the South Texas Veterans Health Care System

Recently, some patients in the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) received a visit from a very special guest.

Therapy Animals of San Antonio brought Poppy, a 2-year-old, female pug, to visit some of the patients, and she was very well received.

As STVHCS embraces the philosophy of Patient Centered Care, called “Veteran Centered Care” here, one of the components is
“Complimentary Therapies”.  These therapies could encompass many different things, from art to massage to aromatherapy to pet therapy, anything to help the Veteran relax and release some of the anxiety that can come from being an inpatient. Poppy more than accomplished that task during her visit.

One Veteran, Mr. Wade Chism, was especially pleased.  While Mr. Chism can’t speak, his face showed all the joy that Poppy brought him.  His nurse indicated that he communicates with his hands, and when asked if he was enjoying his time with Poppy, Mr. Chism responded with his hands “yes”.  For Mr. Chism, Poppy brought a bit of home to him while an inpatient because he said she made him think of his two dogs at home.  This seemed to be a common theme.

The focus of complimentary therapies is not only the patient, but the entire family, and on this day, you could see that Poppy helped relieve some of their anxiety as well. Many families and Veterans began to talk of their pets at home and, as with Mr. Chism, bringing a bit of home to the hospital can make you feel better.  Mr. Augustin Ramirez said Poppy was “nice and warm and I like the curl of her tail.” He also said that Poppy “reminds me of my Boston Terrier at home.”

Science is still unclear on why pet therapy is so effective.  Looking around the rooms when Poppy came to visit it was clear that the full and undivided attention Poppy gave the Veterans brightened their day.  Poppy was popular!

By Robin Risemas, Office of Public Affairs

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Calls on Americans to Interview Female Vets During Women’s History Month

The Veterans History Project, a program of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, commemorates Women’s History Month with a special Web presentation spotlighting female veterans. “Women of Four Wars” is a call to action for volunteer interviewers to record the stories of America’s female wartime veterans and is available online at www.loc.gov/vets/.

“Thanks to volunteers nationwide, the Library of Congress has preserved the recollections of more than 55,000 veterans,” said Bob Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project. “Yet, fewer than 4,000 of those interviews are from women. We need more personal accounts from female veterans, and we need the American public to record them.”

Rich in detail, photographs and historic reference, the profiles in “Women of Four Wars” are grouped into two segments: interviews from the Korea and Vietnam Wars and interviews from the Persian Gulf and Iraq-Afghanistan conflicts. The series covers nearly 60 years and documents the changing role of American women in wartime service.

Featured narratives include the story of Helen Eileen Hause, an Air Force flight nurse who logged more than 1,000 hours transporting medical patients. In Vietnam, Hause prepped wounded men for evacuation in an 85-bed plane and experienced a series of mortar attacks on Ton Son Nhut Air Base.

Also chronicled is the experience of Brenda Vosbein, who joined the Army as a WAC with the Women’s Army Corps in 1970. In her 29-year career, Vosbein experienced—and quickly adapted to—the massive sea change in the military as women’s roles expanded.

The collection also profiles Lt. Cmdr. Holly Harrison, the first woman in the United States Coast Guard to earn the Bronze Star. In charge of the 110-foot cutter Aquidneck during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Harrison and her small crew patrolled the Khawr Abd Allah waterway separating Iraq and Kuwait. Harrison became executive officer of the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy after her return from the Persian Gulf.

Commissioned by Congress to collect and preserve the recollections of Americans who served during wartime, the Veterans History Project relies on volunteers to interview veterans and submit their recollections, along with letters, photographs, memoirs and other documents, to the Library of Congress to be archived and shared with future generations.

Individuals, schools, libraries and community organizations are encouraged to commemorate Women’s History Month by interviewing female veterans. Those interested can download a VHP Field Kit from the Veterans History Project Web site at www.loc.gov/vets/, request a kit via email at vohp@loc.gov or call the toll-free message line at (888) 371-5848.

A SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE AMERICAN WARTIME MUSEUM’S ORAL HISTORY PROJECT MANAGER: If you are a female wartime veteran, or know of one, please contact the Museum’s Wartime Oral History Project and we will arrange for her story to be documented on film. Videos are retained at our Museum as well as the Library of Congress’ Veteran’s History Project. Arrangements can be made by contacting Greg Pass at gpass@nmaw.org

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What do you think about this issue?

WASHINGTON — The daughter of Frank Buckles is not giving up her campaign to see the last veteran of World War I lie in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, even though House and Senate leaders are seeking permission to stage an elaborate tribute at Arlington National Cemetery on the day he is to be buried there.

Susannah Buckles Flanagan issued a lengthy explanation Saturday outlining why the request to have her father, who died a week ago Sunday at age 110, lie in honor in the Capitol was not unreasonable.Her spokesman, David DeJonge, produced the statement after AOL News ran a story Friday noting that the family of the most famous soldier of the Great War, Sgt. Alvin York, declined the same honor and turned down burial at Arlington.

The ruckus over Buckles’ final honors, which includes an order by President Obama for flags at the White House and other federal buildings to fly at half-staff on the day of his funeral, March 15, has put lawmakers in an uncomfortable position.

Read the rest by clicking here.

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Kristin Henderson has seen the war from the front and the home front. As a reporter, she covered troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for the Washington Post Magazine. As a military chaplain’s wife, she’s been the one at home during several deployments. Her 2006 book “While They’re at War,” tells the stories of military wives enduring deployments early in the war.

“Compared to other reporters, I’ve only embedded twice. I’m really a dilettante,” she demurred. Compared to most spouses, however, perhaps her perspective on our decade of conflict is wider.

Relating stories that come from both fronts is Kristin’s passion as a writer and a military wife, so she listens.

“I’ve never heard a boring story from anybody … There is always something interesting there if you are just willing to sit and listen.

“People just want to be heard, to know they aren’t forgotten and that what they do is recognized and respected,” Kristin said.

Conditions were primitive and reporters were scarce in 2008 when she embedded with a Marine unit in Helmand province. “Everyone was in Iraq,” she said, so she went to Afghanistan.

“I really was there to tell the story of that particular platoon. The Marines were talking about how glad they were that (the United States Agency for International Development) was there because they couldn’t do it alone.”

It was a chance for Kristin to hear directly from the troops what they were discovering about how the war could be won – not only with bullets but also with humanitarian aid.

“I showed up at this outpost where there had been no women,” she said. “They were living in a school that had a tarp for a roof, with classrooms as dorm rooms. I had a dorm room all to myself … I had a cot, and they had put down some plywood on the dirt. Quite the swank accommodations, considering where we were.”

One night she hiked up a dark mountain with a group of Marines delivering supplies to men at a remote observation post.

“For about three days at a time, five guys would be holed up on this mountain,” she said. “It was freezing cold up there.”

“As I was leaving, one guy grabbed me by the elbow and said, ‘Ma’am, I just want to thank you for coming all the way out here. Not many people would do that just to see what we do.’”

His gratitude stunned her.

“I think at that time they felt so alone and forgotten by the rest of the country. There was no media there. No one was telling their story.”

Troops on dark mountaintops and spouses struggling at home want to know their sacrifice has value, that their story has listeners.

“Interest in military families comes in little flurries, like interest in the war,” Kristin said. “It’s all off the front page now. Most people want to be supportive … but they don’t know what to do but give you a pat on the back.

“While sympathy and admiration on the civilian side has grown, the experience of being at war has outpaced that,” she said. “Most of our service members are changed when they come home. You and I are changed, families are changed and it gets compounded with every deployment.”

In almost ten years of war, Kristin has seen advances in the way the military cares for its own.

“I think there have been huge improvements in military culture and the systems they have in place,” she said, particularly for handling combat stress.

“Even as the system changes, the reality is that one individual who is unenlightened can bring it all to a screeching halt. For the subordinates under their command, life is no different than it was before.

“Yes, there are vast improvements, but we still have a ways to go,” Kristin said. “As long as there are some leaders who still see the need to process stress experiences as a weakness, that stigma is going to remain in individual cases.”

People inside and outside the military are questioning whether the price paid by military families during these years of war has been worthwhile, she said.

“I think the argument can be made that much as been accomplished, in spite of not being given the resources to fight the right kind of battle,” she said.

To answer the question “Has it been worthwhile?” Kristin said she has to go to the a personal level.

“For me, what makes life meaningful is leaving the world a slightly better place than you found it. Following all the larger news, it’s easy to feel helpless to change anything because the problems are so large, much larger than any one person even the President of the United States,” she said.

“When I look at the larger issue of ‘Is the military being used well?’ it can be very discouraging, but when I look at the individual level, and I look at what my husband does, and I know he’s helping people on a day to day basis and making a difference. That makes it worthwhile to me.”

And so she keeps telling the stories — our stories — and that makes a difference too.

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U.S., Kuwait Mark Gulf War 20th Anniversary

By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2011 – This week marks 20 years since the United States, as part of a 34-nation coalition, drove Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army out of Kuwait, returning that nation to sovereignty and reshaping the U.S. military to the force it is today.

U.S. service members will join military members from dozens of other coalition countries tomorrow in a grand military parade through the streets of Kuwait City, in what the Kuwaiti government is calling its country’s “Golden Jubilee.” The event also marks the 50th anniversary of Kuwait’s independence from Great Britain and, U.S. military officials say, will recognize the important strategic alliance between Kuwait and the United States.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will join 22 presidents, 64 heads of state and other senior officials attending the ceremonies.

“Twenty years ago, Kuwait and the United States formed an unbreakable alliance, which has grown into a comprehensive partnership that promotes freedom, prosperity and democracy in the Middle East region and the world,” Army Lt. Gen. William G. Webster Jr., commander of U.S. Third Army, said in a statement to the Kuwaiti people.

The celebration comes as history is being made in the Middle East where citizen uprisings in recent weeks have prompted revolutions against repressive governments that have spread from Tunisia to Egypt, Iran, Libya and elsewhere.

The Kuwaiti government on its website says Iraq’s invasion was “a critical point in modern Arab history.” It goes on to say that “the Kuwaiti government and its people will never forget all those who stood with them and supported them during the period of brutal invasion.”

The first Gulf War was sparked when then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ordered an invasion of Kuwait after that nation’s government defied his demands to cut oil production to allow for increased prices.

On Aug. 2, 1990, three armored divisions of Hussein’s Republican Guard crossed into Kuwait, sped toward the capital of Kuwait City and, within days, overran Kuwait, according to Army historian Richard Stewart’s “War in the Persian Gulf: Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, August 1990-March 1991,” published by the Center of Military History.

Many Kuwaitis fled to neighboring Saudi Arabia — the largest foreign supplier of U.S. oil. Many Saudis feared Hussein would unleash his million-man army on their country next. At the urging of President George H. W. Bush, Saudi King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, on Aug. 6, 1990, approved moving U.S. military assets onto Saudi soil, opening the door to “the most concentrated and complex projection of American military power since World War II,” Stewart wrote.

Under the direction of then-Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney — who would later serve as vice president to President George W. Bush when U.S. forces pushed into Iraq to topple Hussein in March 2003 — and Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., then-Centcom commander, U.S. forces amassed a buildup of nearly 200,000 troops in Saudi Arabia by late September 1990 as part of Operation Desert Shield.

The U.S. commitment to drive Iraq’s army out of Kuwait would grow to 697,000 soldiers, Marines and airmen, and include the deployment of 108 Navy ships to the region, Webster noted in his anniversary message to the Kuwaitis.

America wasn’t alone during the first Gulf War. The Bush administration built a 33-member coalition that included longtime western allies such as Great Britain, France and Canada, as well as Iraq’s neighbors in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Oman, and Qatar, as well as Pakistan.

“The United States assembled an unprecedented and broad coalition to redress the strategic balance in the Middle East upset by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait,” according to a Joint Staff paper about the war. The first Gulf War “ushered in an era of coalition warfare in which the United States has generally sought the approval and support of other governments and international agencies before intervening in a regional crisis,” the paper said.

Coalition troops assembled in the region as civilian leaders worked with the United Nations to pressure Hussein to withdraw his forces from Kuwait. When embargos and other measures were exhausted, the U.N. set a Jan. 15, 1991, deadline for the Iraqi military to depart Kuwait. Hussein ignored the deadline.

“The hammer fell on Iraqi forces early in the morning of Jan. 17,” Lt. Col. Les’ Melnyk, an Army National Guard historian, wrote in “Mobilizing for the Storm: The Army National Guard in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.” In the United States, where it was still Jan. 16, he noted, “the air and missile attacks coming in over Baghdad were broadcast live as the [television] networks broke in on their evening lineup,” allowing Americans, for the first time, to watch a real-time, play-by-play of their military at war.

“It was the most stunning bombing campaign in the history of the world,” Melnyk wrote.

For 38 days, the aerial bombardment put on full display weapons and equipment that could not have been imagined when U.S. troops fought their last major war two decades earlier in Vietnam.

“There were silent airplanes that could not be tracked from the ground, bombs that could be steered to hit a target the size of a chair, missiles that could destroy other missiles in midair, and satellites that could tell a person in the middle of the trackless desert where they were,” the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission wrote of the Gulf War.

The Iraqis’ counterattack of aging Scud missiles was no match for the coalition, which dropped at least 88,500 tons of bombs during more than 100,000 sorties, destroying all significant Iraqi targets, allowing for the U.S.-led ground war, Operation Desert Storm, to begin Feb. 24.

With the Vietnam War as their previous point of reference, American broadcasters and politicians speculated that the ground war would change the coalition’s good fortunes, Melnyk noted. Hussein had used chemical weapons before and there was reason to believe he would again, he said.

That proved not to be the case. Just 100 hours after the ground war began, it was over. By Feb. 27, Iraq’s ground forces were in full retreat, and Bush declared a cease-fire and the liberation of Kuwait.

The United States suffered 148 combat deaths and 145 non-combat deaths during the seven-month conflict. In addition, 467 U.S. service members were wounded in action.

The Gulf War was a significant turning point for the U.S. military in many ways, not the least of which was proving it could fight alongside its Arab allies.

“The coalition proved that Western and Arab forces can and will stand together, and can do so with speed and precision,” Webster wrote in his letter to the Kuwaitis.

The first Gulf War also solidified confidence that National Guard and reserve members could effectively fight alongside active duty troops, Melnyk said. “We take it for granted today, but before the Gulf War, and in the 20 years since then, the [Guard and] reserves have been part of virtually every contingency operation, large or small, that the military has engaged in,” he said.

The war also vindicated changes in military training, doctrine and structure, and the investment in high-tech equipment that took place throughout the 1980s, Joint Force historians said. It further validated laws that strengthened the role of joint forces and that of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and combatant commanders, they said.

“The Gulf War marked the emergence of the United States as the dominant and continuing force for stability in the Persian Gulf region,” they wrote. “Perhaps most importantly, overwhelming victory in Operation Desert Storm reaffirmed America’s faith in its armed forces and, to some extent, in itself, its products, performance, purpose and dedication.”

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by Sarah Olaciregui
66th Air Base Group Public Affairs

2/24/2011 - HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFNS) – During World War II, the U.S. military was racially segregated, reflecting American society and law at that time. An experiment in the Army Air Forces, however, showed that given equal opportunity and training, African-Americans could fly in, command and support combat units as well as anyone.

James Sheppard was one of the men selected to be a part of the experimental group that came to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He was invited by the local chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Institute, with support from the African American Heritage Month committee, to share his story.

Mr. Sheppard was born in New York City in 1924. As a boy, he said he always liked to see planes flying overhead. “My father knew I was interested in airplanes at a young age,” Mr. Sheppard said. “One time, a black civilian pilot came to the church we attended, so I went to go meet him and hear him speak. It was at that time I learned there were a lot of black civilian pilots and had been for a long time.”

Mr. Sheppard joined the Army Air Forces in 1942 and became an aviation mechanic. He was assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron, based at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Ala., where he eventually rose to the rank of staff sergeant. During his presentation, Mr. Sheppard spoke about his experiences as a Tuskegee Airman.

Before joining the service he knew there were other African-American civilian pilots flying as mercenaries for other countries before the United States entered World War II. He knew it was possible for black people to succeed as pilots. He also described his experiences in Alabama.

“Mrs. Roosevelt, the president’s wife, was a big supporter of integrating blacks in the military. When she visited (Tuskegee AAF), she asked if she could fly with a black pilot,” he said. “The president ordered the military to create an all-black fighter squadron. There were about 20 of us at first, but it worked so well, they created an entire squadron.”

The Tuskegee Airmen went through intense training during their time in Alabama. Before they could go overseas, Mr. Sheppard explained how they had to pass a combat readiness training assignment in Michigan. Mr. Sheppard then shared information about and photos of the many different planes he worked on throughout the war.

“The P-39 (Airacobra) was a pretty good plane,” he said. “We were known for the red paint scheme on the P-51 (Mustangs). That’s how we got the name ‘red tails.’” Mr. Sheppard also described what life was like in Italy. Even during war time, the men trained and went through inspections. “Each morning, we would launch 48 P-51s between 7 and 8 in the morning,” he said. “The pilot had 18 seconds to get off the ground. If he couldn’t do it, we knew something was wrong with the engine.”

The unit endured a lot of loss during the war, as well. “Some men experienced four D-Days before the actual D-Day took place in France,” Mr. Sheppard said, referring to the invasion of Normandy. “By the fifth, the guys were trained and knew what to do.”The men also took pride in making sure the bombers they were escorting were able to accomplish the mission, but it didn’t come easy.  “The German pilots were pretty good and they had good planes,” he said. “We were losing pilots fast.”

Throughout the war, more than 100 pilots were killed or missing in action. Of those, more than 30 were prisoners of war, according to reports. But the losses didn’t deter the Tuskegee Airmen from accomplishing the mission. They shot down 111 German planes and damaged 25 while in the air. They also damaged 123 German planes that were grounded. Mr. Sheppard explained how several Tuskegee Airmen even sunk a German destroyer by firing the canons at the ship.

“The Royal Navy said we sank it, but the U.S. didn’t give us credit for it,” said Mr. Sheppard. “I was part of a research team that worked with people at Maxwell Air Force Base (in Alabama) that helped prove we sunk that destroyer. We finally got credit for it last September.”

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