[Vision2020] WWI Veterans Portrait Exhibit and Ceremony Announced

[Tom Hansen]

>From the Department of Defense website at:

http://tinyurl.com/ys474b

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WWI Veterans Portrait Exhibit and Ceremony Announced

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates will host the unveiling of portraits 
of World War I veterans by photographer David DeJonge in a ceremony 
Thursday, March 6 at 12:45 p.m. EST in the Pentagon Auditorium, Room BH 
650.

DeJonge is based in Grand Rapids, Mich.  He began documenting veterans in 
1996 and in 2006 he began a project to photograph America’s last surviving 
veterans of World War I. DeJonge partnered with the Department of Veterans 
Affairs and located and photographed the last known surviving WWI 
veterans. He has donated his WWI portrait collection to the Pentagon. 

Within weeks of their portrait sessions five of the nine WWI Veterans 
died.  They ranged in age from 105-110 years and served in the Army and 
Navy. Today, there are only two known surviving WWI veterans:

John Babcock of Spokane, Wash., served for Canada in WWI and later in the 
U.S. Army in the 1940’s. He became an American citizen in 1946.

Frank Woodruff Buckles, who resides in Charles Town, W. Va., and joined 
the U.S. Army at age 15, where he served in England during WWI as an 
ambulance driver. He later served during WWII and was held as a prisoner 
of war at Los Banos, Philippines.  

Buckles, 107, will be the guest of honor. 

Journalists without a Pentagon building pass will be picked up at the 
North Parking Entrance only. Plan to arrive no later than 45 minutes prior 
to the event; have proof of affiliation and two forms of photo 
identification.  Please call (703) 697-5131 for escort into the building.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the 
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 
 
-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr. 


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