R.I.P. Frank Buckles

The last US veteran of WWI, Frank Buckles, has died. Buckles was 110. I mentioned Buckles last year in my 4th of July post. That was the first time I had heard about him. He was only 16 when he enlisted (he lied about his age to get in). I admire that. You wouldn't be able to get away with that now because the military is so strict about things. However, even if you could, there are a lot of people who would be lying about their age, but saying that they are younger than they actually are so they wouldn't have to register or enlist. That's sad really. Until the 1950s, kids used to lie about their age to get into the service. They wanted to serve that badly. Anyway, thank you for your service, Mr. Buckles. May you rest in peace.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence, America! To help celebrate here's a couple of good videos. The first is a sequence from ABC News about Frank Buckles, the last living American WWI veteran. The video is from a year ago when Frank was 108. He is now 109.

The second video is of some of the Muppets performing the "Stars and Strips Forever". There's very little more American than Muppets and John Philip Sousa.

Independence Day

Our country is sure in a mix right now. Still, at least for the time being, it's a great country to live in. Happy Independence Day, everyone!