Ottawa — For many who have been involved in the Eganville Legion, Alex Kowbel was known as one of the last surviving veterans of World War II and as he surpassed milestone after milestone, he never ceased to be willing to share his memories, have a few laughs and show the importance of enjoying life to the fullest.

After suffering a fall in 2019, he had been a resident of Perley Health, a retirement home in Ottawa for veterans where he continued an active social life, including exercise classes and playing cards. He died on Saturday at 101.

Eganville Legion Branch 353 Treasurer Claude Jeannotte said at 101 he was the oldest member of the legion and he continued to be a member even after moving to Ottawa.

“He was adopted by the Ladies Auxiliary,” he noted.

Mr. Kowbel was also quite a character, he recalled. One time when Cheryl Gallant came to the Legion, he kissed her and she has never forgotten that, he noted.

“I know every time I meet Cheryl Gallant, she thinks I am Alex and I am the one who tried to kiss her,” he joked.

Last year he visited Mr. Kowbel on his 100^th birthday and presented him with his 75-year pin.

“We wore masks, but he knew exactly who we were. His mind was good.”

Mr. Kowbel had a presence, Mr. Jeannotte said.

“He knew how the land lay around him. He was quite somebody,” he said.

A positive individual who was known to enjoy life to its fullest, Mr. Kowbel lived by a philosophy he adopted many years ago which he referred to as “luxury of integrity”.

“It basically says, be truthful to yourself and don’t deviate from what you think is the truth. But it will cost you,” he said in a 2015 interview with the Leader. “That’s the luxury part of it. I think in the military it cost me some promotions and friendships.”

He spoke with the Leader about his life many times, including when he turned 95.

Born in 1922 in Melville, Saskatchewan, his father had emigrated from Ukraine during the Russian revolution. As a young man he wanted to enlist in the military when World War II began, but at 5’4” and 110 pounds, he was considered too slight by the recruiting officer. However, his typing skills saw him enlisted and he would spend the next three decades in the Canadian military.

He survived World War II and also the Korean War although he had a close brush with death during a training exercise following the war when his military glider crashed in Manitoba. Discharged as a staff sergeant in 1945, Veterans Affairs offered to help Mr. Kowbel complete his high school and university education in a plan similar to the more well known ‘GI Bill” the Americans offered their veterans.

During the summer of 1946, he went to the Canadian Officers Training Corps in Camp Borden. After graduation he was offered, and accepted, a commission as 1st Lieutenant and the following year, after surviving all of the horrors of war, he almost lost his life in a training exercise.

It happened at his first posting at Rivers, Manitoba, near Winnipeg. Because of the large number of gliders that were shot down during the war, he was flying gliders to see if improvements were possible to make better their safety record. In those days 10 men could be seated in a glider and the practice was to release the aircraft from a regular plane and drift down until it reached a height of 90 feet from the ground. Then it would deploy a parachute for a soft landing. But on that day the chute didn’t work and the glider, with all 10 passengers, crashed to the tarmac. Mr. Kowbel suffered a broken back.

Lieutenant Kowbel returned to full service in 1948 and served until 1971. In between, he was seconded to the British army for the Korean War as a staff officer, moving UK ships in and out of the country. He had also married the former Frances Emily Matthews of Barrie and they had four children – Jim, Tom, David and Susan. Sadly, Fran passed away in 1960 from a brain tumour.

In 1967, then Minister of Defence Paul Helyer began the process of amalgamating the three branches of the military — army, navy and air force — and Mr. Kowbel was named the first secretary for material command, working alongside General Rothschild doing the administrative work and planning for the amalgamation.

Then, in 1971, the federal government set up the Environmental Protection Service (EPS). Mr. Kowbel was well known for his work on the amalgamation process he was working on in the military and the government wanted his expertise to help set up the EPS.

The EPS was formed for the purpose of eliminating unintended occurrences of chemicals into the environment. It involved attending international conferences in France with representatives from other countries about air and water pollution and solid waste management.

Recently, Mr. Kowbel established a business scholarship at the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan for students who may be following in his footsteps with a career in the armed forces.

After occasional visits to a friend’s cottage on Lake Clear in the 1970s, Mr. Kowbel purchased the property in 1978 and then when a nice home came up for sale in Foymount in 1982 he moved to the former air force base.

He also purchased a small home in Hawaii and spent more than 30 winters there into his 90s.

Another of his memories was part of our Christmas edition several years ago.

“Christmas 1944

It was Christmas Day in Nijmegen, Holland, 1944, and I was the only Canadian left in the HQ of 2 Canadian Army Group Royal Artillery (2 AGRA). Our Four Canadian Medium Regt’s and the rest of our HQ had left to aid the US Forces in the Battle of the Bulge. My job was to maintain a dummy HQ with the retention in the area of 1 Heavy Regt RA. (7.2 in. guns).

I received a message from a US unit nearby about noon Christmas day inviting me to visit. It was located within walking distance in the basement of what had been (I believe) a large school. I now believe it was a MASH unit, but at the time I had no idea. I was made most welcome and invited to stay for dinner. No one told me, despite many inquiries how they had found out about my being nearby. I was served turkey (a drumstick no less), mashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, and to drink I got a bottle of Coca-Cola. Remember, I had been in England since before the Dieppe raid in 1942. A treat there had been one egg a Sunday if you made it early before they ran out, followed by sausage and mash. The sausage had lots of bread crumbs in it.

I never did get to see them again, but the memory of that Christmas has stayed with me. I had a similar experience with a US Lt. Col. and Major visiting me in Pusan, South Korea on Easter day 1954 bringing chickens and a portable BBQ.”