|
JULIUS JOHN (JACK) BAMBAS IMAGE 5 OF 20 MANIP_FAMILYPHOTO-32.JPG |
|
|
Julius had continued to move west. Before World War I, he worked as a cook in a silver mining camp in Goldfields, Nevada. That is where this photograph was taken. Julius had started studies in the Colorado School of Mines, and Woodrow Wilson was re-elected President in November 1916 having run on a slogan of 'he kept us out of war', meaning World War I which began in Europe in 1914. After Wilson brought the US into WWI on April 6, 1917, the day before Julius 31st birthday, Julius always thought badly of Wilson. He did not want to fight against his former countrymen. He became a contientious objector and was allowed to join the Arizona National Guard. During the war, he guarded federal facilities in Arizona which were perceived to be threatened by Mexico, an ally of Germany. He was honorably discharged after the war. Jack reported seeing wagon loads of bodies being brought from the mining camps as a result of the 1917/18 'Spanish Flu' which killed 600,000 Americans and over 20,000,000 people world wide. Jack told his daughter Joan of being in a bar in Mexico and meeting Zapata, the leader of the Mexican revolution. He claiming that by the end of the evening Zapata offered him an officership in his army. (Coincidently, both Zapata and Bambas refer to footwear in Spanish.) |