One of the Last World War I Veterans Dies at 109 (2 left)

Source: Fox News

NORTH BALTIMORE, Ohio — The last World War I veteran in Ohio, and one of only three known remaining U.S. veterans of the conflict, has died.

J. Russell Coffey was the last WWI vet in the state, according to the Veterans Affairs Department. He died Thursday at the age of 109, said the Smith-Crates Funeral Home in North Baltimore, about 35 miles south of Toledo.

Coffey, born Sept. 1, 1898, did not see action overseas. He enlisted in the Army while he was a student at Ohio State University in October 1918, a month before the Allied powers and Germany signed a cease-fire agreement.

The other known surviving American soldiers are Frank Buckles, 106, of Charles Town, W.Va., and Harry Landis, of Sun City Center, Fla., according to the Veterans Affairs Department.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317766,00.html

...of course, this shouldn't diminish the service of Mr Coffey, but wanted to point that out.

RIP, Mr Coffey...:(

I live in a town that in 2008 will celebrate its bicentennial. In the bicentennial calendar is a picture of a huge banner draped across the downtown Liberty Street which reads Vote You Lucky American.

about the last remaining person who participated in the Boston Tea Party, I believe. I recall when the last Civil War veterans died in the 1950s. It's like a passing of an era.

I was a kid, but my mom gave me a newspaper article to read about the last Civil War veteran.

I remember when the last WWI veteran in our community died. He was over 100 years old, too. The town had a big memorial for him.

:patriot:

my uncle was at chateau therry and was gassed at the argon.

It was indeed the war to end all wars...of that type. Last to use gas, last to use cavalry, last to use the dum dum, last to use full frontal assault as a single stratagem. However, the tank, airplane and machine gun were all introduced to the world. All still in their infancy, all just wisps of what they would eventually become.

It was a transitionary war technologically.

Thank you Mr. Coffey for your service and I'm glad you never had to witness the horrors of war.

drop out of college to sign up to go and fight the hun- the a month later, the war ends- he probably wasn't even out of boot camp yet...and now he's got to serve the full hitch he just signed up for, instead of finishing school...bummer. :shrug:

a link:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071221/NEWS13/712210402

Article published Friday, December 21, 2007
J. RUSSELL COFFEY, 1898-2007
BGSU professor, 109, was among last remaining veterans of WW I


snip:

He was 20 years old when he enlisted in the Army the following year and served about a month before the end of the war. While he tried to enlist earlier, the military was hesitant to admit him because his two older brothers, Harley and Hobart Coffey, were fighting in Europe.

snip:
Mr. Coffey was honorably discharged on Dec. 12, 1918, a month after the signing of the armistice.

snip:
Years later, the elder Mr. Coffey told friends that he was somewhat embarrassed to be honored as a surviving veteran because he never saw combat.

"He really felt that it wasn't appropriate," longtime friend James Miller said. "He had been willing to . But by the time he got there, it was over with."
---------------------------------

RIP J. Russell Coffey :patriot:

WWI was a time before we had a large standing army so he probably would have been released pretty quickly from his obligation at the conclusion of the war. Now it still would have sucked if he hadn't been able to get back into college.

Now that's a life! 109! Thanks for your service, Mr. Coffey.

Hooah!
:patriot:

Both my grandfathers served in WWI, as well, both, coincidentally, in France. I know that my paternal grandfather would only talk about his war experiences to the children and that my maternal grandfather had recently emigrated here from Poland when they made him a citizen and sent him to fight in France. Both died before I was born, so I never had the opportunity to ask either of them about their experienes...:-(

:patriot: