Last of the WW1 survivors has passed away.
nicensleazy
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Harry Patch, the last survivor of World War One to fight in the trenches, has died. Skip related content
He passed away at Fletcher House, the care home in Somerset where he was living. He was 111.
The care home released a statement which read: "It is with much sadness that we must announce the death of Mr Harry Patch at the age of 111."
The statement continued: "Funeral arrangements are being made in accordance with Mr Patch's wishes, and we wish to extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and the residents and staff of Fletcher House."
Mr Patch, known as the Last Tommy, fought in the battle of Passchendaele in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British troops died.
He became Britain's oldest man when another veteran of the war, Henry Allingham, died on July 18 aged 113.
Mr Patch was a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He served in the trenches as a private from June to September 1917.
Born on June 17 1898, he grew up in Combe Down, near Bath, and left school at the age of 15 to train as a plumber. He was 16 when war broke out and reached 18 as conscription was being introduced and after six months training he was sent to the front line.
Mr Patch joined two other veterans of the First World War - Mr Allingham and Bill Stone - to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in central London on Armistice Day last November. All three men have now died.
At the time he said: "I am very happy to be here today. It is not just an honour for me but for an entire generation. It is important to remember the dead from both sides of the conflict. Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims."
He passed away at Fletcher House, the care home in Somerset where he was living. He was 111.
The care home released a statement which read: "It is with much sadness that we must announce the death of Mr Harry Patch at the age of 111."
The statement continued: "Funeral arrangements are being made in accordance with Mr Patch's wishes, and we wish to extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and the residents and staff of Fletcher House."
Mr Patch, known as the Last Tommy, fought in the battle of Passchendaele in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British troops died.
He became Britain's oldest man when another veteran of the war, Henry Allingham, died on July 18 aged 113.
Mr Patch was a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He served in the trenches as a private from June to September 1917.
Born on June 17 1898, he grew up in Combe Down, near Bath, and left school at the age of 15 to train as a plumber. He was 16 when war broke out and reached 18 as conscription was being introduced and after six months training he was sent to the front line.
Mr Patch joined two other veterans of the First World War - Mr Allingham and Bill Stone - to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in central London on Armistice Day last November. All three men have now died.
At the time he said: "I am very happy to be here today. It is not just an honour for me but for an entire generation. It is important to remember the dead from both sides of the conflict. Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims."
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Comments
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The man obviously had great humility.
When the term hero is accredited to sportsmen/women IMHO they're not. They're very fortunate hardworking individuals who have gotten to the top of their games, and are applauded by many.
Living month on end ankle deep in mud, sh1t and bullets never knowing if your next breath could be your last is heroic. Especially when you've seen wave after wave of your companions sent across "no-mans land" getting pointlessly slaughtered. We owe his generation a great debt.
Rest in peace Harry.Tail end Charlie
The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.0 -
Last month I just finished work* on this World War 1 diary:
http://tinyurl.com/l2nrfd
It was hand-drawn immediately after the war from notes he made and smuggled out of the trenches on leave (heavy censorship meant that it was forbidden to keep detailed notes about the fighting and actual conditions in the front line). It often repeats what Harry Patch had said about the fear, mud and death at any moment from a sniper's bullet or a shell burst. Almost all the mates he joined up with were dead well before the Armistice and survival was a matter of luck.
(*The original handwriting was so difficult to read I decided to replace it all and had to spend a couple of hundred hours photoshopping out the original scrawl and replacing it with a typeset version in a suitable font appropriate tothe early 1900s.)0 -
The last of the brave men, the like we may never see again. R.I.P Harry.0
