Daniel Buckley Defends his Country
Buckley, one of the few third-class passengers, testified at the American Inquiry into the sinking. He provided valuable information about the treatment of third-class passengers, particularly how crewmembers locked them behind gates. Settling into his life in New York, Buckley worked as a bellboy at Manhattan’s Yale Club by 1917. Buckley enlisted in the military to serve in World War I.
His regiment experienced heavy losses in the Rouge Bouquet Campaign, but Buckley survived the German bombing of the American trenches, only to be wounded just weeks later. On October 9, he wrote to his mother, “I believe the war will soon be over, as the Germans are getting a great licking.” But Buckley would not see that victory. He died at twenty-eight years old, shot by a sniper during the October 1918 Argonne Campaign. The shot came as Buckley helped evacuate wounded comrades at the Meause-Argonne front.
