Bill Stone: 23 September 1900 – 10 January 2009

The last veteran to serve in both wars. Joining the Royal Navy at age 18 (seven weeks before the Armistice) Bill Stone served as a stoker during the Summer of 1919 at Scapa Flow, where he witnessed the scuttling of the German Battlefleet. During the 1920's Bill served on the HMS Hood, the flagship of the British fleet. By the Second World War he was serving aboard the minesweeper, HMS Salamander. It was aboard this ship in 1940 that he was sent to Dunkirk to rescue British Troops. Bill Stone served the rest of the war in the Mediterranean, where he took part in the landings in Sicily, earning a mentions in dispatches in the process. Leaving the Navy in 1945 with the rank of Stoker Chief Petty Officer, Bill Stone ran a barber shop until retirement. He was 108.

The 123rd Battalion After the War

 

Toronto Daily Star May 1924

 

The Toronto Star, October 28th 1927

 

Toronto Star, October 5th 1927

 

Toronto Star, April 8th 1942

Not Quite the End

I just want to say that this isn't quite the end of Jack's story. I'm still doing research and will post when I can, but it will not be as often. I have, however, started a new blog, called Glory and Grief which will tell my Granddad and Edward's story of their service during the Second World War. I highly recommend you check that out.

Thank you to all my readers and all those who commented and emailed me. I appreciate your interest in my great-grandfather's story.

 

Canada's last First World War Veteran, John Babcock, passes the Torch on to Canada's Veterans.

"We must never forget our fallen comrades. I pass this torch of remembrance to my comrades. Hold it high,"

Pittance of Time....

November 11th 1918

 And when they ask us / How dangerous it was
Oh we'll never tell them / No we'll never tell them
We spent our pay in some café / And fought wild women night and day
T'was the cushiest job we ever had.
And when they ask us / And they're certainly going to ask us
The reason why we didn't win the Croix de Guerre
Oh we'll never tell them / No we'll never tell them
There was a front / But damned if we knew where.

Soldier's song form the First World War

I did a brief overview of this a few months ago when I was covering the last half of Jack's war service. I'll give a recap of this time to save you from going back through the blog (though I encourage it!)

Finally released from the Epsom Convalescent Home (where he was recovering from his bout with appendicitis and a foot injury) Jack soon found himself back in the hospital. This time it was with influenza. Jack would not recover till January.

On November 11, 1918, when the armistice was announced, Jack was in the hospital. He was lucky. For months before hand the Canadian Corps had been fighting a series of campaigns against German forces, that became known as Canada's Hundred Days. The attack of appendicitis at Passchendaele and the foot injury might have saved Jack's life. For his comrades, even though the armistice was signed at 5am that morning, the war was still on. The previous day, General Currie ordered elements of the Corps to liberate Mons. By the 11am, the town, the site of beginning of the War, was liberated. The Canadian Corps suffered 280 casualties, including Pte. Price, who died at 10:58.

 

Canadians enter Mons

At 11am, after four years of war, the guns were silent. 68,000 Canadians were killed, about 10% of those who went over. Over the next few years more soldiers would die of old war wounds. Some remained hospitalized for the rest of their lives from injury or shell shock. Many more like Jack, went home and got on with their lives and made an effort to forget. They were just more casualties in a war long over.

1914-1918 Vigil Continued..