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Bok, Edward William, 1863-1930

"A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After"


"That is my father," was the answer.
The father was then exactly seventy-two years old. He was a retired
business man when the war broke out. After two years of the heroic
struggle he decided that he couldn't keep out of it. He was too old to
fight, but after long insistence he secured a commission. By one of
the many curious coincidences of the war he was assigned to serve under
his own son.
When under the most trying conditions, the Americans never lost their
sense of fun. On the staff of a prison hospital in Germany, where a
number of captured American soldiers were being treated, a German
sergeant became quite friendly with the prisoners under his care. One
day he told them that he had been ordered to active service on the
front. He felt convinced that he would be captured by the English, and
asked the Americans if they would not, give him some sort of
testimonial which he could show if he were taken prisoner, so that he
would not be ill-treated.
The Americans were much amused at this idea, and concocted a note of
introduction, written in English.


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