Westcott, John Howell, Jr.

Born October 9, 1896, in Princeton, New Jersey, Son of Professor John Howell and Edith F. Sampson Westcott. Educated Hoosac School, New York; Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania; and Princeton University, Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, November 11, 1916; attached Section Nine until May 6, 1917. Returned to America. June, applied for aviation and enlisted in 7th N. Y. National Guard Regiment. Records for aviation lost. Trained Spartanburg, South Carolina, as private. Sailed May, 1918, with 107th Infantry (ex-7th N. Y. N. G.), 27th Division. Served with British Fourth Army. Killed by machine gun fire, September 29, 1918, in action near Bony, south of Le Catelet. Buried Bony, near St. Quentin, Aisne.

No greatness can surpass the greatness of simplicity, and it is before such greatness that we stand humble in reviewing the war service of John Howell Westcott, Jr. There is nothing dramatic in it, nothing spectacular, just the faithful performance of what he considered a simple duty.

In Brussels when the Germans invaded Belgium, Jack Westcott came into close contact with the war at its very inception. In October, 1916, during his junior year at college, he slipped off to Canada to enlist in the British army, feeling that he must offer himself as a recruit. Being under age he was told that he must obtain his father's consent. In deference to his father's wishes, and to get more quickly to work, he consented to go to France as an ambulance driver. He served six months at the front, then hastened home to enlist in our own army, in June, 1917.

Arriving too late to enter the officers' training camp, and impatient of any delay, he applied for admission to the aviation branch. Fearing that he might not succeed in this effort, and in order to lose no time, he also enlisted as a private in the old New York 7th National Guard Regiment so that he might be drilling while waiting a decision. All of which is significant and characteristic in the face of his personal friendship with President Woodrow Wilson, from whom he sought no favors in all his eagerness to get into active service.

He finally passed all of his examinations for aviation and was told he would soon be assigned to his new duties. No further notice came, and at length, he learned that the records had been lost. Being then at Spartanburg, South Carolina, with his regiment, he decided to remain in the infantry. The regiment sailed in May, 1918, and very soon joined the British army in French Flanders, where it was almost constantly in action for five months. Thus he had the satisfaction of working side by side with the British, to whom he felt attached by bonds of deep and inherited sympathy, his mother being a direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden, and had also the happiness of fighting for the France he loved.

His last battle was fought at Le Catelet. He was killed in action while returning from delivering a message for his captain. Acting as an interpreter for his company, Westcott had been offered the position of interpreter on the Divisional Staff, but refused, hating anything short of what he considered his full duty. He died, at the age of twenty-one, a private in "L" Company of the 107th U. S. Infantry.

The very human, lovable boyishness of him is well expressed in the following letter from a "buddy": "Westcott was not as well known in the company at first as most of the boys. He was quiet, reserved, and did not seek the companionship of the others. He waited for them to come to him. When they finally did come to know him there was not a better liked nor more highly respected man in the company. After one really got to know 'West' his reserve seemed to disappear entirely. His sense of humor was of the finest, and with his keen wits he continually kept us amused. I never heard him grumble."

From a Princeton man comes the following appreciation: "Jack Westcott had one of the most perfectly balanced characters I have ever known. In serious discussions his opinions, because of their soundness, generally won out. In more frivolous pursuits Jack again usually set the pace. In fact, he seemed naturally to possess all the qualities which go to make a young man popular with everybody. I never knew a more honorable and straightforward fellow. You could depend absolutely on his friendship being unfailing and sincere."

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921