WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Frank Buckles considered it his duty to represent his fellow soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day . Frank Buckles , 107 and the last living U.S. WWI veteran , said it was his duty to represent his fallen soldiers . `` I have to , '' he told CNN , `` because I 'm the last living member of Americans '' who fought in what was called The Great War . Buckles , 107 , who is the sole living U.S. World War I veteran , attended ceremonies Tuesday at the grave of Gen. John Pershing , the top U.S. commander in that war . He was present for the first Veterans Day in 1918 -- though it was originally called Armistice Day -- that marked the end of WWI . Buckles was warmly greeted with standing applause by those in uniform and others who had gathered for the commemoration , but he said he did not think the fuss was about him . `` I can see what they 're honoring , the veterans of World War I . '' `` Time has passed very quickly to me , '' he said after a wreath-laying . `` I 've had a lot of activity in the last 90 years . '' Watch interview with Frank Buckles » . According to an autobiography released this year by the Pentagon , Buckles was eager to join the war . Although only 16 in the summer of 1917 , he lied about his age to get into the armed services . He said his recruiter told him `` the Ambulance Service was the quickest way to get to France , '' so he took training in trench casualty retrieval . Buckles was an officer 's escort in France before joining a detail transporting German prisoners of war . A few decades later , Buckles was in the Philippines as a civilian , on the day in December 1941 that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor . He was taken as a prisoner of war in Manila and held for 39 months . Today Buckles is the symbolic leader of a drive to improve a run-down city-owned memorial on the National Mall for those lost in the World War I . The gazebo-styled structure was built in the 1930s . There is no national memorial in the nation 's capital for the troops known as `` doughboys '' who served in the war that ended 90 years ago . Legislation in Congress would provide federal funding to restore and enhance the city 's memorial . A $ 182 million World War II memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in 2004 .
John Buckles , 107 , is the last living American veteran of WWI . Buckles was present for first Veterans Day in Washington when it was Armistice Day . Buckles said it was his duty to represent veterans since he is last WWI veteran . There is no national memorial in Washington for WWI veterans .