News

President Barack Obama paid tribute to Buckles this afternoon as he lay in repose in the chapel beneath Arlington's Memorial Amphitheater stage. Buckles died Feb. 27 at age 110.Obama was the last of a long line of mourners who began filing past his flag-draped casket early this morning to pay their last respects to Buckles, and a whole generation of combat veterans he came to represent. The visitors paused in quiet reflection within the stark grandeur of the white-marble chapel. Its most striking adornment is a gold-leaf "Winged Victory" figure the Chinese government presented to President Warren G. Harding when the unknown soldier of World War I was buried at Arlington on Nov. 11, 1921. Today that figure, along with a single soldier from the 3rd Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard," kept a constant vigil over the last "doughboy" to serve in World War I. As they streamed from the chapel, the mourners a mix of families, school groups, veterans, even a Canadian air cadet group said they were honored to be able to say a final goodbye to a generation of American heroes. "I felt like it was my duty as an American to come here and give him my respects," said Ray King, who took time during a family trip here from Houston to pay homage to Buckles. "It's because of him, and those he served with, that we have the freedoms we have today." King's wife, Marilyn, said she felt privileged to be able to personally honor Buckles and those who served alongside him in World War I. "What we are doing here today is a statement, and to be able to be part of it is just awesome," she said. "We will carry this home in our hearts, and it is going to change us. I don't think we will go back to Texas the same way." At 4 p.m. this afternoon, members of The Old Guard transferred Buckles' casket to a horse-drawn caisson and made the slow, solemn trek to his final resting place. The soldiers, too, recognized the significance of Buckles' passing. "What we are seeing here is history," said Army Spc. Athiambo Onyango, who supported today's funeral activities. "To me, this feels like the passing of an era." Although he's participated in more funerals than he can count Arlington typically conducts more than two dozen every weekday -- Onyango said he felt particularly honored to be a part of Buckles'. "I think this is probably one of the most important ceremonies I've been in," he said, holding it right up with Obama's inauguration as an experience he'll never forget. Army Sgt. 1st Class William Cramer, another Old Guard soldier, said he, too, felt honored to render honors to Buckles and the whole lineage of World War I doughboys he came to symbolize. "But this is not just about Mr. Buckles," Cramer said. "It's also about what he represents This is the end of that lineage for that generation, a recognition of everyone who stepped forward and volunteered and a way to thank them for their sacrifices." After brief remarks at Buckles' gravesite, an Old Guard firing party fired three rifle volleys and a U.S. Army Band bugler sent the wail of "Taps" across the burial grounds. Buckles was laid to rest in Arlington's Section 34, slightly down the hill and within view of Army Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing's gravesite, and site of Arlington's World War I National Memorial that bears Pershing's words. "You are remembered," it says, recognizing 116,516 Americans killed in World War I. "Their devotion, their valor and their sacrifice will live forever in the hearts of their grateful countrymen." Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I -- the "War to End all Wars" -- that 16-year-old Buckles quit school with dreams of becoming a part of. After lying about his age to one recruiter after another, he finally hoodwinked one into enlisting him into the Army in August 1917. The United States had entered World War I just four months earlier, and Buckles was among fewer than 422,000 soldiers at the time. But within a year, he watched the Army swell to 2.4 million, most of it serving in the American Expeditionary Force. Buckles deployed to the Western Front, driving an ambulance in France and Germany and earning the rank of corporal before his discharge in 1920. As he lived out his later years in West Virginia, Buckles worked tirelessly to ensure the sacrifices made during World War I never be forgotten. One of his pet projects was a campaign to refurbish a little-known memorial to World War I veterans from the District of Columbia and rededicate it as a national memorial. In 2008, on the death of 108-year-old Harry Richard Landis, Buckles became the sole living link to more than 4.7 million Americans who served in that war. It's a role he embraced, visiting the Pentagon at age 107 for the unveiling of a World War I veterans' exhibit. "Whoever views this display will, I am sure, feel a connection to Mr. Buckles and his comrades-in-arms," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during that presentation. "We will always be grateful for what they did for their country 90 years ago." March 15, 2011: By Donna Miles- American Forces Press Service

Master Sgt. Rudy Gamez and his wife, Tech. Sgt. Christina Gamez, are documenting their experiences as they serve separate deployments in Afghanistan in the Air Force blog, "Double Duty: Know Before You Go." This is the master sergeant's sixth deployment and his wife's first. The aim, said Christina, a financial analyst stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, is to pass on lessons learned to other service members preparing for their own deployments. "I want people to understand the emotions of deployments from both sides," she said. "I've been on the other side -- left at home with a full-time job and then some, with two kids and no family in driving distance. "Now I see it from the deployed side," she added. "I understand the need for a stronger emotional toughness so the deployment doesn't destroy you. It can be a helpless feeling over here at times, knowing you can only do so much to take care of the ones you love." The couple's blog posts have run the gamut from dealing with household packing to the pain of family separation to day-to-day life in a combat zone. Christina's blog posts range from the highly practical - such as a list of items to pack when flying overseas - to the whimsical. A recent post, for example, dealt with a conversation she had about fishing with an Afghan interpreter. "He told us that when the war first kicked off, their version of fishing was throwing a grenade in the water," she wrote. "The fish would be stunned, so it made it easy to scoop them up." Rudy, a communications director on Camp Eggers, Afghanistan, touched on attitude in one of his blog posts. "Sometimes our problems aren't so much the circumstances we're confronted with, but more the perspective in which we view them," he wrote. But most heartfelt are the couple's posts about their children, 5-year-old Tomas and 3-year-old Eva. Christina wrote extensively about the day in January when she left for predeployment training. A snowstorm had delayed their arrival at the airport, and she had only about 20 minutes to say goodbye to her family for a year. She clung to her children at the gate, but all too soon the final boarding call came. "I asked my family to take them and walk away first before I finally turned around to walk down the hall to my plane," she wrote. "It was, without a doubt, the hardest moment I've had as a mom." Now stationed in western Afghanistan, Christina still tears up when recalling that day, which not only is imprinted on her memory, but also is saved for posterity in the blog. "It was an emotional day from the start, and never seemed to stop," she wrote. Her husband, who is on his third deployment in three years, also shared his thoughts about that day in a blog post. "Today I am heartbroken," he wrote. "Though I was not there to drop off Tomas and Eva with Grandpa and Grandma, I feel a large emptiness. Our two li'l ones will be without Mom and Dad at their side for quite some time; the hardest fact I've had to come to terms with on this deployment. "It's not easily done nor accepted as today I am flooded with the emotion of how wrong this may be," he continued, "and bear an aching heart and a knot the size of Afghanistan in the pit of my stomach." The couple plans to continue to blog through their homecoming and reintegration. Rudy will return home a few months before his wife, so he will be writing about life as a temporary single parent, and Christina plans to shed light on the reintegration process. "It's not all glitz and glamour the pictures portray," she said. "It's stressful for just about every return. It's just the part we don't talk about -- maybe [now] now we can more." It's not always easy to bare her emotions for public consumption, Christina said, but she hopes by doing so, she can help herself while helping others. "I know, if nothing else, that I was able to help a couple of my friends that have been reading it and found out that they are deploying out this way in the next couple of months," she said. "It's also been very therapeutic getting it all out; talking about the emotions, the struggles and the laughs," she added. Her husband has found it tougher to pour out his emotions for the world to see. But he also sees the benefits in doing so. The blog, he noted, offers him not only an emotional outlet, but also a way to start a conversation with other service members. "I've talked to young service members about it, so it's been positive," he said. March 8, 2011: By Elaine Wilson- American Forces Press Service

Chaplain Neal J. Buckon retired as a lieutenant colonel on Dec. 31, 2010. On Jan. 3, he received the news that Pope Benedict XVI had selected him as a bishop and assigned him as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Bishop Buckon will minister to Roman Catholics in the U.S. military worldwide. "I enjoyed two days of retirement," he said. On Feb. 22, Buckon was ordained a bishop during a ceremony at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, here. He joins three other auxiliary bishops and Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who leads the pastoral team for the 1.5 million archbishopric. Buckon will work with three other auxiliary bishops to assist the archbishop in "his role as shepherd of the Military's Catholic faithful," Buckon explained. Buckon will be the vicar for the western region of the archdiocese. The region comprises 18 states and includes Hawaii and Alaska. "I will conduct pastoral visits to the Catholic Faith Communities on Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and Coast Guard installations," there, he said. "I will also assist and advise the Catholic chaplains assigned to the installations in Catholic-specific pastoral leadership," Buckon said, adding that a bishop is the minister of the sacrament of confirmation, which is the "final sacrament of initiation." Buckon has come a long way in a short time from his final Army chaplain days spent in South Korea with the 8th Army field chaplain for current operations, and as the Catholic chaplain for U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan/Seoul. "The selection to become a bishop is a great honor and a privilege, and it is somewhat humbling to be chosen," Buckon said. "I trust that God will supply the inspiration, the strength, and the courage for the ministry that lies ahead." "During many of the pastoral visits, I will confer the sacrament of confirmation upon the service members and family members who have requested and prepared to be fully initiated into the Catholic faith," he said. Pope John Paul II created the Archdiocese for the Military Services to provide a full range of Catholic Church pastoral ministries and spiritual services for U.S. military troops. The archdiocese serves more than 220 military installations in 29 countries, 153 Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, in addition to federal employees working in 134 countries, according to the Archdiocese website. Buckon is probably one of the few bishops authorized to wear a Ranger Tab. He initially served as an infantryman during earlier active duty service from 1975 to 1982. After seven years on active duty, Buckon left the Army and entered the ministry. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Cleveland, May 25, 1995, and later returned to the Army as a chaplain. "Twenty-eight years of military service," he said, "has prepared me for the responsibilities of a new ministry to the service members and families who selflessly serve in many parts of the world to protect the country we love." March 4, 2011: By Terri Moon Cronk- American Forces Press Service