SOLDIER NOT BURIED

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 March 1926, Page 2

SOLDIER NOT BURIED

PARENTS* FOUR YEARS’ VIGIL. After a four years’ vigil over the remains of his soldier son, Mr John Speaks, of Iredell County, North Carolina, still refuses to bury the body, which is lying in state in a little annexe to his farmhouse. Although a • poor man,, lie has. persistently refused to accept the £2OOO insurance which the writer - states, the, Governprent is ready to pay on the life of the dead soldier. He will not take compensation for the life of This son, wno was killed by a .German shell. Thomas Boyd Speaks, the son, was 15 years of age when If© volunteered for service overseas, withouj-ihe knowledge or consent of his father. The latter was distressed, and made efforts to secure the release of the boy, but ' without success. ’Two years after he had enlisted in te “Iredell Blues,” at Statesville, Thomas Speaks was killed in action near the Argonne Forest, a little over a month before the armistice was signed. He was buried in France, but in 1921 the body was sent to the United States with thousands of other Americana who had fallen in battle. For seven months John Speaks slept every night in the same room with the flag-draped coffin, and when this became known to the county physician, the sheriff, and the welfare superintendent', acting on reports of neighbours, called on the farmer. They found, however, that the presence of a metal coffin was neither dangerous nor obnoxious to the public. In deference to public opinion, however, the father agreed to the removal of the body from the family living room, and constructed a small building in the garden to shelter it. There it has rested ever since. The building is only Bft square, is neatly weather-boarded, and has small windows at each end, with a little porch in the front. Pots of flowers and shrubbery adorn the entrance and sides. The coffin is wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, and rests on a bdx in which it was sent from Europe. The following inscription is on the coffin plate: “Thomas Boyd Speaks, bugler, Company E, 18th Infantry.” On the walls of the room hang a hat and cap, and several other articles of apparel formerly worn by the boy. A clothes brush and a plank on which letters were cut by him with a jackknife before he enlisted are among the other relics in the room. The parents also carefully preserve a letter from the young bugler, in which he told them how much he wanted the terrible war to come to an end, and how anxious he was to return and tell them of lifs adventures. John Speaks, who is 53 years of age, and is a serious-minded man, is surprised that his action has caused any concern. He declared that any money from the Government for his son’s life would burn his lingers. He does not belong to any church, believing that they are “all wrong,” but he reads his Bible. Asked why he did not bury his son’s remains. Mr Speaks said he felt certain it would not be long before the Resurrection of the Dead, and he also mentioned that his son had already been buried once, and he considered that was sufficient.