Sunday, March 06, 2011

An open letter to the President this morning, submitted to the White House site.

Mr. President, the people of America desperately need your intervention to insure that Frank Buckles, (the last WWI veteran) is allowed to lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda.

John Boehner and Harry Reid are blocking resolutions on the floor of the house and senate preventing this honor from being bestowed.

France provided a state funeral with full military honors to her last WWI survivor in 2007 and President Sarkozy attended the funeral.

The UK provided services at Westminister Abbey with full military honors to her last WWI survivor and the Queen and the Prime Minister attended the funeral.

Can America do any less for our last great war veteran and literally, the last one of his generation period?

I think we can do better.

I believe the time has come for you Sir, to step up and take the initiative on this issue.

If you declare the right of Frank Buckles to receive this honor, Senator Reid and Speaker Boehner will stand aside.

The time is now Mr. President, there is only one opportunity to do the right thing.

I sincerely hope that you will choose to intercede and right this wrong.

I truly hope that you will be in attendance at Frank Buckles last Journey and memorial service.

Frank deserves the honor as do the 4.7 million Americans that he represents as the last survivor of WWI.

Do the right thing Mr. President. Intercede and act now, before it is too late.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Personally, I do not like the idea of "lying in state", but that is because my religious beliefs dictate that a person should be buried within 24 hours. As a result, I would say that a military funeral at Arlington would be a greater honor than leaving the body in a building for more than a day. However, whatever is done, should be according to Mr. Buckles' own beliefs and not those of the political class. Indeed it would be less of an honor to treat him the way politicians are treated than to give him a warrior's funeral.

Prime said...

When Lincoln died Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton is reported to have uttered this now famous remark, "Now he belongs to the ages."

Frank now belongs to the ages, and as such, he transcends being just an individual and he becomes the representative for all of those who fought and served during the great war.

The honor requested is not to 'lie in state,' but rather to 'lie in honor.' A separate and distinct honor from 'lying in state.'

Frank is entitled to burial at Arlington National Cemetery, by presidential degree issued by President Bush in 2008. In accordance with that, his service will be with full military honors.

The issue is, if Frank;s remains are not allowed to lie in honor, with the attending procession to Arlington, there will be a very limited number of people who will be able to pay their last respects or honor Frank and all that he represents.

The Arlington amphitheater seats no more than 5000.