The very last British WWI veteran died today aged 111

[General Apathy]

Hi Forum Members, It has just been reported on the radio that the very last of the British WWI veterans Harry Patch died today aged 111. So that link with the past of WWI has faded with his death.

 

Peaceful rest awaits dear soldier.

 

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

 

Apologies that I don't have more information on his service life to add at this time

[LtRGFRANK]

Ironic that the last two died within days of each other. May they march arm and arm together to the golden life to join their comrades. Robert

[disneydave]

Here is the story that was on the Yahoo homepage this morning:

 

 

 

 

By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Writer Robert Barr, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jul 25, 11:40 am ET

 

 

 

 

LONDON – Harry Patch, Britain's last survivor of the trenches of World War I, was a reluctant soldier who became a powerful eyewitness to the horror of war, and a symbol of a lost generation.

 

Patch, who died Saturday at 111, was wounded in 1917 in the Battle of Passchendaele, which he remembered as "mud, mud and more mud mixed together with blood."

 

"Anyone who tells you that in the trenches they weren't scared, he's a damned liar: you were scared all the time," Patch was quoted as saying in a book, "The Last Fighting Tommy," written with historian Richard van Emden.

 

The Fletcher House care home in Wells, southwest England, said Patch "quietly slipped away" on Saturday morning.

 

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the whole country would mourn "the passing of a great man."

 

"The noblest of all the generations has left us, but they will never be forgotten. We say today with still greater force, We Will Remember Them," Brown said.

 

Queen Elizabeth II said "we will never forget the bravery and enormous sacrifice of his generation." Prince Charles said "nothing could give me greater pride" than paying tribute to Patch.

 

"The Great War is a chapter in our history we must never forget, so many sacrifices were made, so many young lives lost," the prince said.

 

Britain's Ministry of Defense called Patch the last British military survivor of the 1914-18 war, although British-born Claude Choules of Australia, 108, is believed to have served in the Royal Navy during the conflict.

 

Patch was one of the last living links to "the war to end all wars," which killed about 20 million people in years of fighting between the Allied Powers — including Britain, France and the United States — and Germany and its allies. The Ministry of Defense said he was the last soldier of any nationality to have fought in the brutal trench warfare that has become the enduring image of the conflict.

 

There are no French or German veterans of the war left alive. The last known U.S. veteran is Frank Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia, 108, who drove ambulances in France for the U.S. Army.

 

Patch did not speak about his war experiences until he was 100. Once he did, he was adamant that the slaughter he witnessed had not been justified.

 

"I met someone from the German side and we both shared the same opinion: we fought, we finished and we were friends," he said in 2007.

 

"It wasn't worth it."

 

Born in southwest England in 1898, Patch was a teenage apprentice plumber when he was called up for military service in 1916. After training he was sent to the trenches as a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

 

The five-man Lewis gun team had a pact to try not to kill any enemy soldiers but to aim at their legs unless it came down to killing or being killed, he said.

 

Patch was part of the third battle of Ypres in Belgium. The offensive began on July 31, 1917, and it rained all but three days of August. It was not until Nov. 6, 1917, that British and Canadian forces had progressed five miles (eight kilometers) to capture what was left of the village of Passchendaele. The cost was 325,000 allied casualties and 260,000 Germans.

 

Patch's war had ended on Sept. 22, when he was seriously wounded by shrapnel, which killed three other members of his machine gun team.

 

"My reaction was terrible; it was losing a part of my life," he said.

 

"I'd taken an absolute liking to the men in the team, you could say almost love. You could talk to them about anything and everything. I mean, those boys were with you night and day, you shared everything with them and you talked about everything."

 

Ever after, he regarded that date as his Remembrance Day instead of the national commemoration on Nov. 11.

 

He and the other survivor agreed that they would never share details of the incident with the families of their comrades. "I mean, there was nothing left, nothing left to bury, and I don't think they would have wanted to know that," he said.

 

Patch recalled being unmoved by the excitement that swept his village of Combe Down, near Bath in southwestern England, when war broke out in 1914.

 

"I didn't welcome the war at all, and never felt the need to get myself into khaki and go out there fighting before it was 'all over by Christmas.' That's what people were saying, that the war wouldn't last long," he said.

 

His most vivid memory of the war was of encountering a comrade whose torso had been ripped open by shrapnel. "Shoot me," Patch recalled the soldier pleading.

 

The man died before Patch could draw his revolver.

 

"I was with him for the last 60 seconds of his life. He gasped one word — 'Mother.' That one word has run through my brain for 88 years. I will never forget it."

 

When he was wounded, Patch said he was told that the medics had run out of anesthetic, but he agreed to go ahead with surgery to remove shrapnel from his stomach.

 

"Four people caught hold of me, one each leg, one each arm, and the doctor got busy," he recalled. "I'd asked him how long he'd be and he'd said, 'two minutes,' and in those two minutes I could have damned well killed him."

 

After the war ended in 1918, Patch returned to work as a plumber, got married, raised a family and didn't start talking about his war experiences until the 21st century. He outlived three wives and both of his sons.

 

During World War II, Patch volunteered for the fire service and helped in rescue and firefighting after German bombing raids.

 

In recent years he and his dwindling band of fellow survivors became poignant, and much-honored, symbols of the conflict.

 

At 101, he received the Legion d'Honneur from the French government. Last year, Poet Laureate Andrew Motion wrote a poem for him, "The Five Acts of Harry Patch."

 

Last year he and two fellow veterans — former airman Henry Allingham and former sailor Bill Stone — attended remembrance ceremonies in London to mark the 90th anniversary of the war's end at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. The three frail men in wheelchairs laid wreaths of red poppies at the base of the stone Cenotaph memorial.

 

Stone died in January. Allingham, who became the world's oldest man, died July 18, aged 113.

 

At a remembrance ceremony in 2007, Patch said he felt "humbled that I should be representing an entire generation."

 

"Today is not for me. It is for the countless millions who did not come home with their lives intact. They are the heroes," he said. "It is also important we remember those who lost their lives on both sides."

 

The Ministry of Defense said Patch's funeral would be held in Wells Cathedral in the town where he lived. It said the service would be "a prayer for peace and reconciliation." The date was not announced.

[General Apathy]

Ironic that the last two died within days of each other. May they march arm and arm together to the golden life to join their comrades. Robert

 

Hi Robert, thanks for your thoughts on this 'old soldier '.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[General Apathy]

Here is the story that was on the Yahoo homepage this morning:

 

Harry Patch, Britain's last survivor of the trenches of World War I, was a reluctant soldier who became a powerful eyewitness to the horror of war, and a symbol of a lost generation.

 

Patch, who died Saturday at 111, was wounded in 1917 in the Battle of Passchendaele, which he remembered as "mud, mud and more mud mixed together with blood."

 

Hi Dave, thanks for finding and bringing to this post the story of this man Harry Patch.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[MAW]

Thanks for posting.

 

God bless the veterans of the lost generation.

[drmessimer]

Hi Forum Members, It has just been reported on the radio that the very last of the British WWI veterans Harry Patch died today aged 111. So that link with the past of WWI has faded with his death.

 

Peaceful rest awaits dear soldier.

Cheers ( Lewis )

 

Apologies that I don't have more information on his service life to add at this time

Lewis: Its amazing that Harry Patch lived as long as he did. He was a 17 year old conscript who fought at Passchendaele as a private in the 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Actually, he isn't the last British WWI veteran, Claude Choules, RN, is still alive and living in Perth, W. Australia. Here is an excerpt from a London Times article about that:

"He may live a long way from Britain, but the 108-year-old war veteran Claude Choules holds a special place in the country’s history. After the death of Harry Patch on Saturday, Mr Choules, a former Royal Navy seaman now living in Western Australia, is the last living British veteran of the First World War."

There are two other living WWI veterans, a Canadian, John Henry Foster Babcock who lives in Spokane, Washington, and an American, Frank Woodruff Buckles who lives in Charles Town, W. Virginia. The Best to you, drmessimer

[graham]

R.I.P. Harry Patch." We will remember them".

[teufelhunde.ret]

R.I.P. Harry Patch :salute:

[Robbo]

Not strictly U.S but significant to us all.

My brother lives in Somerset and went to Wells Cathedral today for the funeral of Harry Patch "The Last Tommy"

Here is a link to pictures he took on WAF.

 

Harry Patch Funeral

[Flvice]

RIP Harry Patch :salute:

 

"The Final Inspection"

 

The soldier stood and faced his God,

which must always come to pass.

He hoped his shoes were shining

just as brightly as his brass.

 

"Step forward now, soldier.

How shall I deal with you?

Have you always turned the other cheek?

To my church have you been true?"

 

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,

"No Lord I guess I ain't.

Because those who carry arms

can't always be a saint.

 

I've had to work most Sundays,

and at times my talk was rough...

And sometimes I've been violent

because the battlefields are awful tough.

 

But I never took anything

that wasn't mine to keep...

Though I worked a lot of extra duty

when the bills got just too steep.

 

And I never passed a cry for help,

though at times I shook with fear.

And sometimes, God forgive me,

I've wept unmanly tears.

 

I know I don't deserve a place

among the people here.

They never wanted me around

except to calm their fear.

 

If you've a place for me here,

Lord, it needn't be so grand.

I never expected or had too much,

but if you don't...I'll understand."

 

There was silence all around the throne

where the saints had often trod,

as the soldier waited quietly

for the judgment of his God.

 

"Step forward now, soldier.

You've borne your burdens well.

Come walk a beat on heaven's streets.

You've done your time in hell."

 

~ Author Unknown ~

[Bob Hudson]

Not strictly U.S but significant to us all.

 

That's why we honored him on the forum front page today even though he was British: pretty amazing that he was the last living man to have fought in the trenches, regardless of country. I was watching a special last on TV about excavation of the WWI trenches and what a hellish life that was: living in a mud hole, being attacked by mustard gas and occasionally sent out on suicide charges.

 

You know Harry went to heaven because he's already been to hell.

[Robbo]

You know Harry went to heaven because he's already been to hell.

 

Never a truer word said.

[Bugme]

Very sobering when you consider the millions of soldiers involved in WWI that the last one is now gone.

 

May you find complete peace and rest in the hands of a loving God Harry!

[General Apathy]

That's why we honored him on the forum front page today even though he was British: pretty amazing that he was the last living man to have fought in the trenches, regardless of country. I was watching a special last on TV about excavation of the WWI trenches and what a hellish life that was: living in a mud hole, being attacked by mustard gas and occasionally sent out on suicide charges.

 

You know Harry went to heaven because he's already been to hell.

 

As stated before ' not strictly American subject matter ' , I would would like to thank all that have added to this thread about Harry patch.

 

As a British born subject I would like to thank Bob ( Forum Support ) and the entire membership for honoring Harry on the Forum front page yesterday on the occasion of his funeral.

 

Politcians may start these wars but it's the men like Harry and members of this forum that have to fight them.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[Bob Hudson]

[kammo-man]

BOB

Thank you also for giving the Front cover to Harry .

RIP MR Patch

owen

kammoman

[Teamski]

I know I'm late here, but an era has passed that most of us were unaware of. I know I have my WWI British groups that belonged to soldiers and sailors long passed. And to have Mr. Patch live in our lifetime is trully an honor, a living artifact of a time long lost. What he got to experience in his lifetime is trully matchless. Imagine all those world events and technological advances stored in his memory!!! Ben Franklin would of been jealous to say the least. An amazing life.... Salute!

 

-Ski

[normaninvasion]

Thought I might add, the band Radiohead has released a song in tribute to Harry, the procedes from the song will be donated to the British legion.