WWI veteran Patch dies aged 111

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

The last British survivor of the World War I trenches, Harry Patch, has died at the age of 111.

Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army aged 18 and fought in the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British soldiers died.

He was raised in Coombe Down, near Bath, and had been living at a care home in Wells, Somerset.

The oldest WWI veteran Henry Allingham, who served in the Royal Navy and the RAF, died at the age of 113 a week ago.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8168691.stm

---

None left now - none at all.

Worth reading his obituary too : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6954937.stm

[Dennis Donovan]

1. We still have one, bonafide US WW1 vet left: Frank Buckles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buckles

Frank Woodruff Buckles (born February 1, 1901) is, at age 108, the last identified living American veteran of World War I. He currently lives in Charles Town, West Virginia and is the Honorary Chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation.





Here's a list of surviving WW1 vets:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_veterans_of_World_War_I

[dipsydoodle]

3. It just refered to the UK

I recall mention of your last survivor at the time that Henry Allingham died.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. According to the list in Wikipedia, there's still 1 RN survivor in the UK...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Choules

He's the last RN seaman alive that witnessed the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919.

When I was a child, I remember the WW1 vets marching in the Memorial Day parade. My uncle says he remembers Civil War vets marching in the parade. Amazing, isn't it?

[non sociopath skin]

5. According to the article, Claude Choules has lived in Australia for most of his life.

I think the significance of Harry Patch's death was that he was the last survivor of trench warfare on the Western Front.

The Skin

[Withywindle]

16. I'm only 40, and I remember it too.

My great-grandfather was a WWI vet, and he lived well into my teens - I'm very glad I got a chance to get to know him.

Not Civil War vets, though. But I do remember reading somewhere that the last known person born a slave in the US was with us until 1979!

[non sociopath skin]

2. Sleep well, old warrior.

And so it passes into the era before living memory. A marker for all of us.

Now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glories
I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn
Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, their numbers get fewer
Someday, no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me

Eric Bogle

The Skin

[enlightenment]

9. Thanks for posting that, Skin -

it's been a while since I've read it.

[endless october]

6. there are so few WWI vets left

I can't imagine the things he saw. what an amazing life.

Rest in peace.

[salguine]

7. Three more, as of this morning...one more Brit, one Canadian, and one Yank.

[endless october]

8. I'll be sad when we lose Frank Buckles.

it would be nice to see a little more historical attention paid to WWI while we still have a few surviving veterans.

and honestly, I have always thought it would make quite an amazing movie. it's been done in the past, but with today's technology, it would be possible to make one that really jumps out of the screen and brings Great War history to a new generation.

[SidneyCarton]

12. The trouble is, Hollywood would have an almost impossible time turning the Western Front

into something glorious. Mindless, meaningless slaughter at the Somme, Verdun, Passchendaele, etc.

[Vidar]

10. RIP Mr. Patch.

[SidneyCarton]

11. Goodbye to the last Tommy of WWI.

May he find his way home to his friends, loved ones and comrades, may he finally know peace.

:patriot:

[Uncle Joe]

13. His parents had a good sense of humor.

:)

Rip Harry Patch.:patriot:

[LeftishBrit]

14. RIP Mr. Patch.

[Odin2005]

15. RIP soldier.

The so-called "Lost" Generation is almost gone. :(