Monument to Honor Frank Buckles Underway

HARRISON COUNTY, MO — A St. Joseph monument company will begin work soon on the memorial to the last doughboy, Frank Buckles, to be displayed on the courthouse lawn in Bethany. The county commission approved installation plans to locate the monument on the southeast corner facing the intersection of Main Street and North 16th Street. Brenda Flood, a member of Bethany American Legion Post 216, has been coordinating the monument project. The memorial honors Mr. Buckles, a Bethany native who was the last surviving veteran of World War I. He died in 2011 at his farm in Charles Town, W.V. The memorial was ordered through Robertson Funeral Home. Jane Smith, who recently published a book on Harrison Countians who served in World War II, prepared the tribute that will appear on the monument. The epithet quotes John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for this friends.”