H.A. Willis, your clarification is welcome. Choule is indeed the last person living to have seen action in World War I and certainly the last living sailor to have served on active duty in that conflict.

I should point out that at least in this country, "active duty" means full-time duty in one of the armed forces whether or not in the face of the enemy. "Active service" is not (I believe) used with a technical meaning. It does imply service in the face of the enemy, i.e., under fire, though one may be under fire very briefly (which is plenty).

At any rate, Buckles appears to be the last living soldier to have served in uniform with any combatant nation in France during World War I.

Both men have obviously led extraordinary lives and should be appropriately honored. I e-mailed one of the cable news networks
on Veterans' Day to chide them for failing to mention Buckles in a story on the current number of U.S. veterans. When the same story aired a few hours later, a prefatory note gave Buckles his due.