Babe Ruth: Ben Keith? (An OR With the “Lost Battalion”) An American POW.

BABE RUTH ‘Ben Keith’?

This caricature may be of Ben Keith of the 2nd. Battalion, 131st Texas Field Artillery also known as the “Lost Battalion”. A good friend Ficklin, he was a rather large fellow, and a corporal. He & Ficklin worked together as POW under the Japanese in their motor pool.

Source: https://oralhistory.unt.edu/people/ficklin-frank-w-b-1922 

Perhaps he often talked about his favourite game, baseball, to others including Des, thus the above caricature of a baby with a baseball bat, the legendary player, Babe Ruth?

“George Herman Ruth Jr. (1895-1948), also known as Babe Ruth, was the greatest baseball player in the history of the sport. He played for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Boston Braves in a career which ran from 1914 to 1935. Ruth is perhaps best known for his prodigious power.” 

Source: https://baberuth.com/

It remains a mystery as to why Joe Keenan had this & other paintings by Des of Americans, (see ‘Texan Cowboy, F. Ficklin’, ‘Bert Buller’ on this site), but it is likely that they were well liked by others, so Des simply painted the caricatures again for their buddies. These American POWs were with Joe Keenan on the Thai Burma Death Railway & likely formed strong bonds with each other to survive the brutality, starvation, disease & slave labour in the jungles they were forced to work long hours in building a railway with the most basic of tools.

Images published with the kind permission of Joe Keenan’s family.