The following was posted by Colonel Raymond LeMay, former National President on the S.S.A.W.V. Facebook Group page on July 7th, 2010. We at the Cuba Libre Camp #172 offer our condolences to the family and friends of John B. Garret Jr., May He Rest In Peace. > Col. LeMay wrote "It is my Sad Duty to Report the Loss of Real Son, Brother John B. Garrett Jr. He was the Son of Pvt. John B. Garrett Sr. of Co. T, 3rd VA Regt. He passed away at the Age of 83 on July 5th. John was a Proud Member of the Joseph Melvin Leonard Camp No.168, Cohoes-Albany, NY. Calling Hours will be tommorow at Dufresne and Cavannaugh Funeral Home at 149 Old Loudon Rd. Latham, NY between 4 and 7pm. I will be attending at 5 pm to represent the SSAWV".
I'd like to thank the Sons of the Spanish American War for paying their respects to my father at his wake. My dad recently shared a newspaper article about his father with me. The text of it follows:
ReplyDeleteTHE YOUNGEST SOLDIER
Private J. Batson Garrett, Now in the City, Enjoys That Distinction.
Mr. J. Batson Garrett who is now visiting his brother, Mr. T. Garret, of this city, enjoys the distinction of having been the youngest soldier in the service during the late war with Spain.
The young soldier is 16 years of age, weighs 18 pounds, and is but 5 feet 2 inches in height. Owing to his extreme youth and not being able to comply with the physical requirements as to height and weight, he was not regularly enlisted. However, he was in the service and did his duy at drill and otherwise was under the same regulations as the other privates of his company.
He was a member of Company T., Third Virginia Regiment, which has been at Camp Alger, and was mustered out of service with the company last Thursday, coming direct from Camp Alger to this city.
Private Garrett is an orphan and at the opening of the war resided with relatives in Loudoun county. For reasons of his own he ran away and finally arrived Camp Alger and offered himself for enlistment. It was impossible to enlist him, owing to his youth and physique, but the company took him in charge and soon some arrangement was made whereby he donned the uniform, drew his rations, entered the drills and performed the duties of any other soldier. He liked military life and had no particular desire to quit the service.
Many times while in the service he compelled to undergo the ordeal of being photographed by the news paper fraternity, and has been the subject of extensive “write ups” on more than one occasion. He intends to reside here and is now in search of a position.