'Our last living link' to WWI

[Buck]

An amazing story of one human beings life!! :o

(as a pipe smoker I noted that......"Until he was in his 70s, Buckles each month smoked a pound of pipe tobacco and a box of cigars that he ordered from a shop in San Francisco." Common in his generation)

That aside.... an amazing story IMO.

http://www.philly.com:80/philly/news/homepage/20090201__Our_last_living_link__to_WWI.html?viewAl l=y

[papasmurf]

Good story find, Buck.
Reminded me of my grandfather. My grandfather was a WW1 vet - born the same year as this fella. My grandfather made it to 98 years old. It was kinda sad because he spoke at ww1 vets memorial services, but when it came time for him, there were no fellow ww1 vets to speak at his service.

[Wyobuckaroo]

Howdy

My Grandfather and his buddy Fritz, never said anything about there time in WW1.

I did run into an old guy at a local small airport that had the flight business at the airport for years who was a veteran.

He said he and his spotter flew observer airplanes. There were a whole lot more of them than there were fighter aircraft, he said.

He said he carried a Colt 45 army revolver when they flew over eastern France and Germany. They would have to land once in a while because the radiator would over heat. There were a lot of liquid cooled engines used at that time. They would round up local farmers with that pistol and have them carry water for the plane.

When they left they would give them cigarettes, candy, and such like that. The people always waved good buy and tell them to come back again.

This old guy and his and another buddy were a legend where I grew up, for there ability to hunt coyotes from a J3 Piper Cub.

Interesting people you run into at times
Wyo