WWI vets alive-disappearing fast

Dear All,
Many may remember me and my search for living WWI vets for preserving theirs accounts. Well, I am still looking for WWI vets. The seach is now very hard, and my funds are shorter than ever.

Also, many of the people I have come to know have died. As recently as yesterday I tried to contact, Tom Spear, a Canadian vet I know. His daughter told me he died Thursday. I missed him by 2 DAYS! This doesn't seem like the place to gush emotions relating to such events, but I will say this. My hobby (of interviewing)is not easy. I will never get used to these new friends and aquaintances die so frequently.

Perhaps some of you have seen or heard of Tom Spear. When I met him he was a lively 102 year old. We met in France during the 80th anniversary ceremonies of the Armistice. He was a sapper and a signalman during the war. He had two brothers. One served near him in France the other remained in Canada (where he still lives at the age 101). The brother he served with in France died there two months before the war was over.
During an interview with Tom, he showed me a letter he'd received from his dead brother which had been written just days before a German machine gun felled him. It was an ordinary comforting sort of letter telling of a trip on leave to "Limy." In it his brother asked Tom to write more often, since he hadn't heard from him in a while....Tom read the letter aloud to me during my interview with him. By the end he was clearly affected. I asked him how many times he had read that letter. He said "maybe a thousand." (It gives me chills now thinking about it.)
Afterwards he let me read a long letter he had received from an anonymous British Soldier who had come upon his brothers body and collected all his personal effects to send on to the family. In the letter he described how he had found the body outside a dressing station with two German dead. Scattered around Tom's brother were various letters and things. (Someone had already looted the corpses.) He collected all of the things that remainded and sent them home with a letter explaining how he had come upon them and the body. Of course he did not send a graphic account of his finding to Tom's parents.
In the letter I read it was different. He explained very clearly the details of the wounds Tom's brother had received and all of the ugly details surrounding the event.
While I was reading the letter I looked up to see Tom holding his head in his hands. I asked if he wanted for me to stop, but he urged me on.
When I finished reading and looked up to see Tom far awy and deep in thought. After a few moments he turned to me and thanked me for reading it. "I think that is the best I have ever heard that letter read." As it turned out he had only read the letter a dozen or so times.
Of all my interviews with all of the veterans I have met. That meeting with Tom,alone in his hotel room with those lettters and memories, may have been the most emotionally impressive of all the meeting I have had.
I will miss Tom Spear. Perhaps some of you that knew him will feel like me. For the others of you who did not know him or another WWI vet, I would encourage you to seek one out and sit down for a chat. You will be glad you did.


Yours truly,
Kirk Goolsby
(540)341-7878
6772 Foster's Fork Road #1
Warrenton, VA 20187

P.S. Please let me know of any WWI vets that you know of. I am continuing my work when I can to record their stories for posterity.


Kirk Goolsby

Please excuse the mistakes in grammar and spelling. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to reread it before posting.

regards,
Kirk

I knew a WWI Vet named Cadet Shirer and I was fortunate enough to get his signature because two months after I got it he passed away.

Hi Kirk

Just remember 'As long as there is memory - there is no death....'

Kind regards
Mitch

I know of a Navy vet from WW1. He is 99, I think, but still cuts his own grass. He is my sister's father-in-law and lives in western New York near Lake Ontario. Still in full command of all his faculties but thinks he's approaching old age. Can check and see if he's interested in talking to you. I have asked any number of people to record his reminiscences without any takers. Please reply to the list.

Many thanks for that info. Please be in touch about what you find.

Kind Regards,

Kirk Goolsby

Will check to find out if he is open to an interview by you. Should know in a few weeks, but will need your e-mail address. I wouldn't put his name and address on the list. Reply to my address, please. gejenny@dreamscape.com

That was one of the best things I ever read. In a couple of short paragraphs you have summed up why I love history and what I've been trying to seek out my whole life. The idea of looking into the soul of one of these veterans, it must be very affecting. I live down here in Atlanta. I'll see if there are any WW1 vets here I can find to put you in touch with.

Regards,

Dereck

[Kirk]

You got it Dereck!