The final days of the First World War for Clarence Schwab were filled with excitement and caution.
鈥淭hey were moving farther and faster than they had at any time during the war,鈥� said his grandson, Col. Alexander Schwab, in an interview with CTV London Bureau Chief Paul Workman.
鈥淭hey sensed that there was a chance that they might be able to end the war before Christmas.鈥�
Schwab, who carries on his grandfather鈥檚 legacy as a NATO soldier based in Europe, has preserved a collection of photographs, diaries and notes kept by the older Schwab. Clarence served three years in France and chased the Germans through Belgium during the war, which ended 100 years ago Sunday. He was likely in the woods near a small town north of Valenciennes, France when he got word of the armistice from battalion headquarters on Nov. 11, 1918, his grandson said.
The diary entries suggest the final days were filled with guarded enthusiasm in that the Allies were 鈥渁dvancing and taking so many German prisoners.鈥�
But any sense of 鈥渆xcitement鈥� was matched with a considerable amount of caution.
鈥淢any of them had been through three years of war,鈥� said Schwab. 鈥淭hey were anxious to stay alive, but still to do their soldiering job.鈥�
For Col. Schwab, sharing his grandfather鈥檚 stories on the armistice centenary has been 鈥渋ncredibly emotional,鈥� but he has an immense amount of pride as a soldier himself.
鈥淰ery professionally rewarding as well to be able to walk the ground and see the kinds of things that he would have gone through,鈥� he said. 鈥淗aving studied and researched and knowing what the conditions were, it is a remarkable accomplishment to have come through that much war relatively unscathed.鈥�
