Saluting Frank Buckles, 107 Years Old And

[LarryJ]

He managed to "convince" an Army Captain that he was 18 years old, after trying the USMC and the USN, the Army finally took him..........

I'm proud for him.

[Pete53]

Wow that is really something. When I was a kid in the early 50's there were still a few Civil War Veterans and now we are down to 1 from WWI.

[rthomass]

We have a gentelman here at Louisville, Kentucky who for many years volunteered at the VA hospitlal. He is now in a nursing home but at last I knew he was well over 100 years old. Understand he never went overseas but had finished his training before WW1 ended. Will try to get his exact age. Gentleman's name was Rex Roby or Robie not sure of the spelling of his last name..

Edited May 26, 2008 by rthomass

[LarryJ]

I remember sitting out on the front porch in the early '50's and listening to the "old" folks talk. My GreatGrandMother, Katy Hendricks, was still alive at that time and lived with my Grandmother and Grandfather. She was approaching 100 years old (she died at the age of 102).

She was a "character" if there ever was one. She kept a .22 pump Remington sitting on the porch, where she spent most of her time if the weather was "pretty". She'd quilt and, every once in a while, some squirrel would make the fatal decision to get within "shootin range".

Anyway, both of her husbands served in the Civil War. They were each the other's best friend.

They started out with the Choctaw Mounted Rifles, then went down to Paris, Texas and signed up for "the duration of the war" with DeMorse's 29th Texas Cavalry. After they returned from the War of Northern Aggression, her first husband was "murdered by white men" in 1880, whereupon she married his best friend L D Hendricks (my GGrandFather).

Anyway, I listened to these stories about that place in time.

Still catch myself thinking "damn Yankee" whenever I meet someone from "above the line".

Of course, I catch myself and try to make sure that I'm not be "prejudicial" in my line of thought. It does still gratify me to realize that most of the time, my first impressions are still correct.

[LarryJ]

and, yes, Betty.......I've still got three of her quilts.......one she made, along with her "quiltin circle" for her wedding to Gramps. She had to have made this particular quilt sometime between the murder of her first husband, James William "Little Bill" Barnes and her second husband, L D Hendricks (Gramps). So, that'd put that quilt as bein made between spring 1880 and fall 1880.

[Josephine]

and, yes, Betty.......I've still got three of her quilts.......one she made, along with her "quiltin circle" for her wedding to Gramps. She had to have made this particular quilt sometime between the murder of her first husband, James William "Little Bill" Barnes and her second husband, L D Hendricks (Gramps). So, that'd put that quilt as bein made between spring 1880 and fall 1880.

Larry,

Sometimes, how about getting out your camera and posting us a picture to see them.

thanks,

Betty

[LarryJ]

Okay, I'll do that.

I kinda like to look at them every once in a while.

They are in a "cedar chest", packed away in one of those big vacuum-sealable thingeys, along with a bunch of other odds and ends.......I even have a Choctaw appothecary (sp?) basket that Grandma made out of cane. It's probably, at least, 100 years old. Compleat with a tassle that has some sort of "medicinal meaning" attached thereto (Wished I'd listened a little closer to those old folks.......a lot of that kind of stuff is now lost to the ages. A lot of it must have worked 'cause MOST of my folks lived into their 80's-90's and NEVER went to "doctors" and never saw the inside of a "hospital".).