Fade
11-10-2008, 10:52 AM
Vet recalls end of WWI
Canadian caroused with buddies
By KATHLEEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU CHIEF
TORONTO It's been 90 long years, and his memory is fading fast.
But John "Jack" Babcock, Canada's last living link to World War I, still recalls the day Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918. He celebrated with a few drinks with his buddies at a local London hotel, where a brawl eventually broke out.
He wound up sleeping curled under a rug and was reprimanded for reporting late for duty the next day, even though the war had ended.
"We crawled under the rug to keep warm, then we went back to camp the next morning. We had been AWOL, so they marched us in front of the colonel," Babcock said in a telephone interview from his home in Spokane, Wash. "He said 14 days of punishment No. 2 -- which means you couldn't leave your company lines. Well before the 14 days was up, I was on a boat headed back to Canada."
Babcock, now 108, was too young to ever fight in combat, and feels honoured he has come to represent a generation of soldiers by sheer longevity. His wife Dorothy (Dot) said a number of visitors have come by to include Babcock in various events to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, but the couple won't be attending any formal ceremonies tomorrow.
She said Babcock has never shared details about his experience on Armistice Day, and at this stage she doubts she could draw out anything more.
"He doesn't remember the jubilation I don't think -- but maybe they celebrated a bit too much," she said with a laugh.
Story continued....
(http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/11/10/7360891-sun.html)
Canadian caroused with buddies
By KATHLEEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU CHIEF
TORONTO It's been 90 long years, and his memory is fading fast.
But John "Jack" Babcock, Canada's last living link to World War I, still recalls the day Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918. He celebrated with a few drinks with his buddies at a local London hotel, where a brawl eventually broke out.
He wound up sleeping curled under a rug and was reprimanded for reporting late for duty the next day, even though the war had ended.
"We crawled under the rug to keep warm, then we went back to camp the next morning. We had been AWOL, so they marched us in front of the colonel," Babcock said in a telephone interview from his home in Spokane, Wash. "He said 14 days of punishment No. 2 -- which means you couldn't leave your company lines. Well before the 14 days was up, I was on a boat headed back to Canada."
Babcock, now 108, was too young to ever fight in combat, and feels honoured he has come to represent a generation of soldiers by sheer longevity. His wife Dorothy (Dot) said a number of visitors have come by to include Babcock in various events to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, but the couple won't be attending any formal ceremonies tomorrow.
She said Babcock has never shared details about his experience on Armistice Day, and at this stage she doubts she could draw out anything more.
"He doesn't remember the jubilation I don't think -- but maybe they celebrated a bit too much," she said with a laugh.
Story continued....
(http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/11/10/7360891-sun.html)