I wonder how many remember that what we call Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day. It was originally a celebration of the 1st war to end all wars World War I. My mother was 38 when I was born and my dad was 19 years older than her. That made my dad as old as all my friends grandfathers. He was born in Scotland in 1898. His was like most common families of their time in Scotland, very poor. He had apprenticed as a butcher but work was hard to find. When WWI broke out, he, along with almost all teenagers in his area and almost all of his 8 brothers, enlisted in the Royal Army..... when he was 16. He was deployed to France and became an artilleryman, driving a horse drawn wagon carrying artillery shells. I remember the stories he told about his horses, Tim and Boxer. Ill spare you the details, but eventually he was wounded by a bomb, dropped on him by hand from a German bi-plane. He carried an ugly scar on the front of his neck and another on the back, one where the shrapnel went in and one where the surgeon took it back out. He spent many weeks in French military hospitals.The British army had no such thing as a Purple Heart. After the war he and almost all his family immigrated to Canada and he eventually moved to Florida. Just wanted to take this time to honor him, my dad, Alexander Allan, (no middle name...) namesake of his great grandson, Luke Alexander Allan.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 00:17:03 +0000
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