John Babcock

John Babcock
John Babcock in 1920
Nickname(s)	Jack
Born	(1900-07-23)July 23, 1900 Holleford, South Frontenac, Ontario, Canada
Died	February 18, 2010(2010-02-18) (aged 109) Spokane, Washington, United States of America
Allegiance	Canada (World War I)  United States (Post-World War I)
Service/branch	Canadian Expeditionary Force  United States Army
Years of service	1916–1918
Rank	Acting Lance Corporal (Canadian Army) Sergeant (United States Army)
Unit	146th Battalion (Canada) Young Soldiers Battalion (Canada) Homeguard (USA)
Battles/wars	World War I
Other work	Following the First World War, he became trained as an electrician, and later immigrated to the United States, where he eventually enlisted in the United States Army.
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John Henry Foster "Jack" Babcock (July 23, 1900 – February 18, 2010) was, at age 109, the last known surviving veteran of the Canadian military to have served in the First World War and, after the death of Harry Patch, was the conflict's oldest surviving veteran. Babcock first attempted to join the army at the age of fifteen, but was turned down and sent to work in Halifax until he was placed in the Young Soldiers Battalion in August 1917. Babcock was then transferred to the United Kingdom, where he continued his training until the end of the war.

Having never seen combat, Babcock did not consider himself a veteran and moved to the United States in the 1920s, where he joined the United States Army and eventually became an electrician. In May 2007, following the death of Dwight Wilson, he became the last surviving veteran of the First World War who served with the Canadian forces. From that point he received international attention, including 109th birthday greetings from Queen Elizabeth II, the Governor General of Canada and the Canadian Prime Minister, until his death on February 18, 2010.

Babcock was born into a family of thirteen children on a farm in Frontenac County, Ontario. According to Babcock, the barn where he was born (which no longer exists) was located off Highway 38 in South Frontenac Township. His father died in 1906 after a tree-cutting accident, when Babcock was only six years old. As described in his account given to Maclean's, while his father was cutting down one tree, another dead tree fell on his shoulder. Although he was brought into the house on bobsleigh, he only survived another two hours. Babcock said that this was an "awful blow" to the family.

School was never a concern for Babcock, and he did not earn his high school diploma until the age of 95. On growing up in the area, Babcock claims that he "didn't do very much," although he admits that "[i]t was a fun place to grow up." Babcock partook in fishing, hunting, and swimming—especially around the local Sydenham Lake—in order to pass the time with the other kids his age. He would return to the area in 1919, after his wartime experiences, but soon after left for the United States. Nevertheless, Babcock's relatives continue to work at the Crater Dairy farm (named after the Holleford crater, a remnant of a meteor strike) and the community grew to greatly respect John.