No dice, doughboy

Posted at 11:46 AM on March 8, 2011 by Bob Collins
Filed under: War

It took a lot to get Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid on the same page. It took Frank Buckles dying.

Buckles was America's last surviving World War I veteran. He died last month at 110 and his family had the idea that he could lie in repose beneath the Capitol dome in Washington. It would, they said, be a symbolic way to honor all of the Great War's veterans.

Boehner and Reid have denied the request, without saying why, the New York Times reports.

It's not unheard of to have a non-politician lie in state. Two Capitol Police officers have, as has Rosa Parks.

"It was a war that changed the world, in effect, and it should be recognized. I hope and I think it is going to happen," former Sen. Bob Dole told the National Journal.

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