ecovlke's Diaryland Diary

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World War I Veterans Passing

World War I Veterans Passing

(AP) "FRANK MACDONALD, Australia's oldest World War I veteran at 107 and a decorated war hero, was given a state funeral Saturday in his hometown of Hobart in Tasmania State. He died August 23, 2003.
MacDonald served with the all-Tasmanian 40th Battalion Australian Infantry Force on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918. He was awarded a medal for "conspicuous gallantry" in Belgium in 1917, and received the Legion of Honor from the French government in 1998.
MacDonald enlisted again in World War II, but was confined to a desk job in Sydney because authorities considered him too old for active duty.
MacDonald's death leaves just six known Australian World War I veterans, all of them over 100 years old."
Associated Press"

WILLIS EARL, who lied about his age to enlist in the Army and fought in World War I when he was 16, died September 17, 2003 in Vancouver Wash. He was 103.
Earl later was a railroad worker who tried without success to be released from his job so he could re-enlist during World War II.
By recent estimates fewer than 500 World War I veterans remain in the United States.
Earl was working in a Portland, Ore., railyard when the United States entered World War I and he enlisted two months before his 17th birthday.
Two years ago, when he received a medal from the Veterans of Underage Military Service, Earl recalled, "I told them I was 19, and I don't recall ever having to show anything."
After his parents found out, an uncle who was a lawyer told the young man's commanding officer.
"The CO said, 'This thing will be over in six months, and he'll never get to France,'" Earl recalled. "In three months, I was in France."
Too old to serve in World War II, Earl deluged U.S. Senators with letters asking that he be released to enlist anyway."
Associated Press

"CLIFFORD HOLLIDAY, the last surviving Canadian combat veteran of World War I died Tuesday May 4th in Gardena, Calif., according to Veterans Affairs Canada. He was 105.
Holliday, who was a U.S. citizen, died Tuesday at his home here.
Only eight of the 650,000 Canadians who served in World War I remain and Holliman was the last who fought in combat, according to the Canadian minister of veterans affairs.
Holliday enlisted in the Canadian Army at age 16 and was sent to the front lines for two years, serving as a private with the 43rd Battalion, Camrom Highlanders.
Holliday fought in some of the fiercest battles of the war, including Ypres, Vimy Ridge and Belgium's Hill 60, where his battalion virtually was wiped out.
He was shot through the legs in Belgium and his jaw was shredded by shrapnel in France. After this second injury, he was sent to England for surgery. A doctor who doubted his age offered to send him to the Boys Battalion there.
Eighty years later, he was honored for his World War I service with the French Legion of Honor and the Canadian McCrae Medallion.
After the war he returned to Manitoba as an electrician's apprentice. In 1922 he moved to California in search of a better job.
He installed the first sound system in Columbia Studios and wired silent movie theaters for sound when 'talkies' arrived."
Associated Press

"ABE CAYLOR, an Army cavalry soldier during World War I and one of the nation's oldest military veterans, died Wednesday May 5th in Orting, Wash., relatives said. He was 104.
Enjoying the attention of his final years but tired of being asked his secret to growing old, Caylor once replied. 'Work hard and mind your own damn business.'
On his 100th birthday, his photograph was shown on national television and he received a congratulatory call from the White House. The next spring he was honored at a concert and Memorial Day ceremonies on the Capitol lawn in Washington, D.C.
Lying about his age, he enlisted in the Army in 1915 and was assigned to Troop D, 12th Horse Cavalry, with a saber, rifle, and a horse named 'Old Dusty.' During World War I his 120-member unit was sent to Panama to guard the canal.
Caylor later got married, worked as a truck driver and dispatcher, went to business school and moved west to work for Boeing Co.
After his wife's death in 1974, he lived alone, did his own cooking, washing and cleaning and continued to drive until he was 99, when he reluctantly moved into the Washington Soldiers Home."
Associated Press

10:43 p.m. - 2004-05-12

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