Final Canadian WWI veteran dies

[demoleft]

Source: bbc

The last Canadian veteran of World War I has died at the age of 109.

John Babcock enlisted at the age of 15 after lying about his age. He trained in Canada and England but the war ended before he reached the French frontline.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Mr Babcock was Canada's last living link to the Great War.

Just two other veterans of World War I remain alive: American Frank Buckles, also aged 109, and British-born Australian Claude Choules, who is 108.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8523325.stm

[old mark]

1. Possibly the most terrible war in history. The Battle of the Somme, in 1916,

cost the British Army 58,000 casualties on the first day.
The generals commanding the various nation's armies used old tactics against modern weapons and cost the lives of millions through sheer arrogant stupidity.

It was thought to be the War to End All War.

Be at peace, Mr. Babcock.

rec.
mark

[OnlinePoker]

12. Christmas Truce 1914

A spontaneous truce broke out the length of the Western Front on December 24th, 1914 when lower rankers came out of their trenches and started mingling with their "enemy". Generals, seeing their war being stopped by popular demand used threat of death to force the men back into the trenches for another 4 years and 10 million lives. Had the peace been allowed to have been established, it is unlikely that Nazism would ever have risen in Germany. Hitler used the German defeat as the basis for many of his ideas that the Jews were to blame for the country's woes, including the loss of WWI.

[old mark]

14. You are right. We actually saw the end of WWI in the 1990's with the wars

in the Balkan countries that were artificially joined after WWI and stayed that way, hating each other, till the end of the Soviet Union.
Started in Sarajevo and ended there.

mark

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

19. We haven't seen the end of it yet

since WW1 led to the re-partitioning of the ottoman empire, establishing countries whose borders and regimes have been in dispute since.

Saddam Hussein tried a little re-partitioning of his own, annexing Kuwait, which drew us in and we haven't gotten out of it yet. 19 years and we're still battling.

:hi:

[old mark]

21. You are right - I tend to think of WWI as confined mainly to Europe, but

Gaemany also owned colonies in Africa and islands in the Pacific. And the Ottoman Empire as well, leading to the founding of Israel and a few minor problems in that region...:sarcasm:


FWIW, the first German ship sunk in WWI was sunk in a harbor of an island in the pacific.

mark

[proudohioan]

2. Wow...109?

That's just amazing! The stories he could tell; the changes he has seen in his own lifetime! Fascinating!

RIP Mr. Babcock.

[salguine]

3. Less than three years ago or so, there were fifteen WWI vets living, and three of them were aged

110, 112, and I recall the oldest was a man from Puerto Rico (I think) who died at age 115.

[Odin2005]

4. IIRC there are only 2 WW1 vets alive now.

[No Elephants]

5. So the OP says.

[proudohioan]

8. Why the skepticism?

Do you have evidence to the contrary?

Just wondering.....

[Recursion]

10. I think he was mocking the "IIRC"

As in, "how hard can it be to recall correctly when the OP says it above the fold?"

[No Elephants]

6. Buckles lied about his age, too--and did not report wounds lest he be caught.

I think Brokaw was mistaken. The WWII generation was not the "greatest" generation, but it may have been the last really great one. IMO, most of us alive today just don't equal prior generations.

I am just not physically able to do things my parents did on a daily basis and most of my friends do even less than I do. And our children do less than we do.

Not sure why. I was not pampered by today's standards, but I did have an easier upbringing, physically and economically, than my parents had, especially my father. And my son had it easier than I did.

Maybe that's it.

Of course, there are always exceptions, but that is my general observation.

[proudohioan]

9. Never mind, we must have been posting at the same time.

[WriteDown]

20. Raised by my father when I was young....

Endless cords of wood to chop in the winter. No lack of work to do in the summer either. I remember one time he had me pull a dogwood tree down with a rope. Like a mule! Said the roots were weak and would break eventually. They did after several hours and many blisters. I remember one time where I stepped on a decaying old bridge and put 6 nails through the top of my bare feet. Straight though from the bottom up. He picked out all the rust and debris with a tweezer and knife. Dr's weren't big on his list. Wow, those were the days. Guess that's why I'm up at 5AM each morning working out and up on weekends working on the house/yard to my girlfriend's chagrin. Damn Sicilians.

Not sure it compares to his childhood, but I think it's about as close as you can get in the last 40 years.

[polly7]

7. RIP Mr. Babcock : - ( nt.

[AB_Positive]

11. I salute him.

Proud of the service a fellow Canadian could offer the world. Rest in peace good sir.

[GliderGuider]

13. Mr. Babcock I salute you for your courage and committment.

Not, however, all those generals and politicians who made your courage and commitment necessary, who sold pointless sacrifice as virtue :thumbsdown:

Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

[Blue_Tires]

15. r.i.p.

[Vidar]

16. You've already been through Hell, Mr Babcock. Hopefully, some Valhalla awaits such heroes.

[OnlinePoker]

17. He never went to the front

He lied about his age to get in (15 at the time, I believe) and when they found out while he was in England, they wouldn't let him go with the rest of his unit.

[senseandsensibility]

18. RIP,sir.

:patriot: