Ascension County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....Babin, PVT Bennett James - August 29, 1918
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Mary K. Creamer marykcreamer.00@gmail.com November 17, 2020, 11:32 pm


source: The Donaldsonville Chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current,
April 05, 1919, Image 2


HOW HE MET DEATH

First Hand Account of Killing of Bennett Babin in Action.

Mrs. Louis J. H. Babin received a few days ago a very interesting letter 
from Capt. J. M. Donnell, telling how her gallant young son, Bennett Babin, 
met death in action on the battlefields of France. The letter is written 
from the base hospital at Bordeaux, France, and dated March 7, and is as 
follows:

"Dear Mrs. Babin - I regret very deeply that circumstances prevented my 
writing to you before giving you such slight information as I was able to 
concerning the death of your son, Bennett. After his death on the 30th of 
August, I was continuously engaged until I was wounded with a shrapnel ball 
in my lung on the 9th of October, and at that time lost all papers I had on 
me, and only got your address last week when I was up and visiting my old 
company, now in Germany.

"It was on the afternoon of the 30th of August that Bennet (sic) was killed. 
Our company was in the front line and we were advancing against a railroad 
embankment west of Juvigny, a town about ten miles from Soissons. We had to 
pass through the heaviest machine gun fire and artillery fire I have ever 
seen on any front. In an hour one-third of my company were casualties, but 
we obtained our objective. That night we were relieved and the line went 
forward four kilometers the next day. It was sacrifices such as these boys 
made on that afternoon that kept the American line daily advancing and 
crowding in on the Boches and forcing them back to where they were when they 
were forced to accept the terms of the armistice.

"I saw Bennett several minutes before he was killed. He was going forward, 
smiling through it all - through the scattered sand and splinters of the 
shells that were exploding in our midst, and through the hail of machine gun 
bullets that went zipping by all the time.

"He was stricken down by a piece of shrapnel, and I judged from the nature 
of the wound, he must have died immediately. When the line moved forward the 
next day we buried him and his comrades out there on the Plateau of 
Soissons. Each man was laid to rest where he had fallen. I sent in to the 
proper bureau over here a small package of his personal effects, and expect 
this has already reached you. I took a picture of the graves of each of the 
boys, but the films were in my baggage with my company and I did not recover 
them until a week ago; so I have not had them developed as yet but as soon 
as I do I will send you several. And if there is at any time any other 
information of any sort I could give or secure for you, I hope you will 
grant me the privilege of being able to do some small service for the mother 
of one of my boys - one of the finest boys it has been my pleasure to meet.

"He gave his all to freedom. He made the supreme sacrifice. He has his 
soldier's grave now and he rests with the good God of battles Who called him 
among His own.

"I am proud I had the privilege of serving beside your son, of having a boy 
of his caliber in my company. I should be honored if you would spare me a 
small snapshot or some sort of picture of Bennett, one of my boys, one who 
has joined many of his comrades in the Great Beyond.

"I join the people in the United States in saluting the mother of so noble a 
son. - Sincerely, "CAPT. JOSEPH M. DONNELLY, "Ontonagon, Mich.".


Additional Comments:
NOTE: PVT Bennett James Babin is buried in Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and 
Memorial. Fere-en-Tardenois, Departement de l'Aisne, Picardie, France
www.findagrave.com memorial # 56635738


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