OTTAWA - The last surviving Canadian veteran of the First World War will become a Canadian again, just in time for his 108th birthday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed Friday.
John Babcock, who has been living in Spokane, Wa., is to be granted Canadian citizenship in recognition of his military service to Canada and his expressed desire, Harper announced.
"We are proud to welcome Mr. Babcock back into the Canadian family and to honour the service he gave our country," Harper said in a prepared statement.
"He symbolizes a generation of Canadians who, in many ways, were the authors of modern Canadian nationhood. When Canada went to war in'14 we were widely perceived as a mere colony of Britain. By the end of the war, the world recognized Canada as a proud and independent country.
"Mr. Babcock and his fellow servicemen helped make possible Canada's coming of age and I thank them from the bottom of my heart."
Babcock was born July 23,'00, on a farm near Kingston, Ont.
He joined a Canadian Army youth battalion as a teenager and was sent overseas as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
He never saw action, however, before the war ended in November'18.
Babcock moved to the United States in the'20s and became a U.S. citizen in'46, automatically losing his status as a British subject in the process. The Canadian Citizenship Act, which legally established Canadian citizenship for the first time, only came into force in'47.
Meetings with Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson prompted the decision to grant his Canadian citizenship.
"He told me he considers himself a Canadian at heart," said Thompson.
Thompson presented Babcock with a Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation last month in recognition of his contributions to the care and well-being of veterans and to the remembrance of their sacrifices and achievements.
"Mr. Babcock will become a Canadian citizen as soon as he takes the oath of citizenship," Harper said.
"This means the last known soldier to serve Canada in the First World War will forever be a Canadian."
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