Pvt. Daniel Buckley Jr. Survives the Titanic, Killed in WWI

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Daniel Buckley Jr.

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Blog Created: 7-17-2022

Last Updated: 8-7-2023

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PVT Daniel “Dannie” Buckley Jr.

BIRTH 28 Sep 1890

Boherderroye, County Cork, Ireland

DEATH 15 Oct 1918 (aged 28)

Chatel-Chehery, Departement des Ardennes, Champagne-Ardenne, France

BURIAL Ballydesmond Cemetery

Ballydesmond, County Cork, Ireland

Private Buckley during World War I.

Private Daniel Buckley, Jr. was an Irish-born passenger and one of the survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912. He later served as an American soldier during World War I and was killed in combat.

Daniel was the son of Daniel Buckley, Sr., and Abigail Sullivan of Boherbue, County Cork, Ireland. In 1905 they moved to Ballydesmond (then Kingwilliamstown), where his father served as the town's baker. Like many other Irish young people at the time, Daniel felt that he could have a better life and make more money in America. By 1912, he and a group of his friends were set to make the long transatlantic voyage. At the party held before the group set out, Daniel sang the song "When the Fields Are White with Daisies, I'll Return." He and his friends were travelling on the Titanic, and Daniel was the only one to survive. Since he and his three roommates were in a room near the ship's bow, they could hear the sound of the crash. He immediately felt something was wrong, but his friends didn't believe it was serious, though when he turned on the light, they could see water on the floor. He had gotten up to the deck when he turned around, thinking he'd return to his room to get his lifebelt and belongings, but as he got further down the stairs he was confronted with steps submerged in water and decided not to go any further. He managed to get an extra lifebelt from another passenger once up on the deck. Trouble arose when the men in the lifeboat Daniel had gotten into were ordered out, supposedly at gunpoint. A kindhearted woman took pity on the crying young man and threw a shawl over him, thus disguising him as a woman. Daniel believed this woman was Madeleine Astor, though according to historical record, it seems more likely that his savior were a Mrs. Appleton, as Mrs. Astor was in a different lifeboat, and not a lifeboat in which male passengers were ordered out at gunpoint. After his safe arrival in America, Daniel settled in Manhattan, where he worked in a hotel. In June of 1917, he joined the army, under the reasoning that it would be better to get to pick which unit and branch he'd serve in than be drafted and have no say in the matter. He was in the 69th Regiment, which was made up entirely of other Irishmen. After undergoing basic training at Camp Mills in Long Island, he arrived in France in the fall of 1917 with Company K of the 165th U.S. Infantry (which the 69th Regiment had been reconstituted as). Daniel proudly served his adopted country, eager to defeat Germany, and sent much of his army salary to his family back in Ireland. Even getting some sustained wounds didn't dampen his enthusiasm for serving. He only made passing reference to being wounded when he wrote to his family, though he did recognise how lucky he had been in not being killed or more seriously wounded like other of the men in his company had been. Daniel was killed by a sniper while helping to retrieve wounded soldiers on the Meuse-Argonne front in October of 1918. He was initially buried in France, but his remains were taken to Ireland in the spring of 1919. On the day he was reburied, the fields were indeed white with daisies, a stunning fulfillment of the song he had sung the last time he had been in Ireland. He is buried just behind Nora O'Leary, another Titanic survivor.

Dannie's grave.

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