Harry Patch | First world war veteran | Obituary | World news | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close Nine decades ago, in 1917, Harry Patch, who has died aged 111, could have instantly joined the half a million German and Commonwealth soldiers ripped apart in the mud of the battle of Passchendaele. When the first world war was over and he was back in the West Country, running a plumbing business, he never mentioned those months. They were unspeakable. Only when he reached 100 could he look back. His book The Last Fighting Tommy (2007, written with Richard van Emden) found him, at 109, not only the last British soldier to have seen combat on the western front but the oldest first-time author. His longevity had prompted a remarkable perspective on working England across the 20th century, from a man who, in his youth, had known people born in the early 19th century. Patch grew up in Combe Down, Somerset, from whose quarries nearby Bath was built.

His stonemason father, William, had met his future wife, Elizabeth, when she was head of the servant staff at the house of a doctor. From modest origins, William built houses for rent, while raising three sons and growing vegetables. Deputed to load a pig into a van, young Harry saw the animal escape, and knock into a beehive, whose occupants seared its hide. Coughs and colds were "treated with honey and vinegar, which tasted horrible, as well as goose grease which was smeared on your chest". At a local school, a visiting antiquarian, the Rev Alfred Richardson, helped him to relish archaeology with Roman remains as "hands-on history". Patch's childhood enthusiasm for John Meade Falkner's Moonfleet (1898), set in Dorset, came alive when an ancient quarry shifted and disturbed a neighbouring house. His father found a tunnnel entrance by their well, and they went 15 metres (50ft) below, beside a spring. "I was fascinated. I could see ... a great saw, teeth an inch long, two stones with a cut between, used to sharpen the saw, and the files stuck in a crevice.

It appeared that the workmen had left a shift, never to return." This was more vivid than his recollection of the Titanic's sinking in April 1912. Eight months later he began a five-year building apprenticeship. Meanwhile his mother was shocked when his brother William joined the army: in peacetime only "scruffs and villains" did so. With war, Patch waited for October 1916 call-up and, by June 1917, was a lance corporal in France with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Two weeks after the third battle of Ypres, Passchendaele, had begun on 31 July 1917, Patch duly went over the top. "Others were just blown to pieces," he would write in the 21st century, "it wasn't a case of seeing them with a nice bullet hole in their tunic, far from it, and there I was, only 19 years old. I felt sick." Impassioned yet cool, he saw weeks of horror; a dying comrade called, "shoot me" but immediately died with the word, "mother".

Haunted by that, and shielded by a dead German, Patch, a crack shot, fired mercifully at a German's shoulder, but the man stumbled on, bayonet ready; an easy kill, but still Patch "shot him above the ankle, and above the knee. I brought him down. He called out something in German, I don't suppose it was complimentary". Then, on 22 September, Patch was badly wounded in the chest. Recuperating back in the West Country, he combined recovery with plumbing studies and met his future first wife, Ada. Chest pains precluded a return to France, but he was not demobilised for another year, not until after Armistice Day. Indeed, after 11 November 1918 he was on a firing range with other Tommies when a jobs- worth officer so riled them that there was a stand-off between his revolver and their rifles: "Had he not backed down, he would have been shot, there's no doubt about it." A brigadier, alert to the officer's attitude, vindicated them, but for a moment it had looked a close call.

Patch had always felt, he wrote in The Last Fighting Tommy, that "politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organising nothing better than legalised mass murder". Disillusioned by war, but buoyed by marriage, Patch decided against police service in favour of plumbing's independence. Despite rising unemployment, his own firm in Bath prospered. A plan to join his son in Chicago was foiled by the outbreak of the second world war. As a volunteer fireman he was on duty during the Luftwaffe's 1942 attacks on Bath, and his account of civilian life and preparations for D-day in June 1944 from his vantage point as maintenance manager at a US army camp is as engrossing as his tales of trench life. At the start of the 1950s his brother George retired to a house near Moonfleet's Dorset setting – the village of Fleet. Years of weekend foraging culminated for the brothers in the uncovering of a tunnel crucial to the novel. In 1963 Patch retired; 15 years later Ada died.

Throughout those times, his marriage to Jean two years later, his second widowerhood in 1984, and the deaths of Dennis and Roy, his two sons by Ada, Patch never spoke of the first world war. Only at 100, with another companion, Doris, who died in 2007, did he broach the subject, and finally he returned to Ypres at the age of 105. "The idea was that I would lay a wreath to the memory of my dead friends, but I couldn't. I looked from the [coach] window and the memories flooded back and I wept, and the wreath was laid on my behalf." Other returns included for the BBC's The Last Tommy (2005), when he met a German veteran, Charles Kuentz. Patch told the then prime minister, Tony Blair, that nobody during the first world war should have been shot for cowardice. "War is organised murder," he insisted, "and nothing else." He said that, for him, 11 November was "just showbusiness". Instead, "the day I lost my pals", 22 September 1917, was his true remembrance day.

Trench dogs had fought over biscuits snaffled from dead men's tunics, and Patch had thought, "what are we doing that's really any different? Two civilised nations, British and German, fighting for our lives." As he reached 110, Patch felt honoured to have a poem written about him by the then poet laureate, Andrew Motion, who had visited him for a filmed interview. The poet, whose first work had been about the Great war, felt so transported across time that he became oblivious to the cameras' presence and recalled that Patch's hands felt like twigs and his voice "was very low, almost worn out ... there were lengthy pauses ... gradually I realised they were to let him collect himself". Motion's poem, The Five Acts of Harry Patch, depends, however, upon a knowledge of the veteran's life; without that, many of the references do not have the dramatic effect of Patch's own account. It opens, though, with an evocation of an Edwardian summer and, inevitably, closes in the centenarian's nursing home, with his terror, memory flooded with sniper fire, when staff open the linen cupboard opposite his room: "...

all it takes / is someone switching on the light – there is that flash, / or was until you said, and the staff blacked the window." Brood, however, he did not: "If they've written the obituary, all I can say is that I hope to live long enough that they will have to update it, and more than once!" • Henry John Patch, born 17 June 1898; died 25 July 2009 The life of Harry Patch, Britain's last surviving soldier of the first world war, who has died at 111 Published: 26 Jul 2009 Last surviving veteran of First World War dies aged 110 - Telegraph UK News Last surviving veteran of First World War dies aged 110 Florence Green, the world's last surviving First World War veteran has died, marking the end of an era in British history. Florence Green died two weeks before her 111th birthday Photo: Masons 10:46AM GMT 07 Feb 2012 Mrs Green passed away in her sleep at a care home in Norfolk just two weeks before her 111th birthday.

The great-grandmother signed up to the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) 93 years ago in September 1918, when she was aged just 17. She was the last surviving person to have served in WWI following the death of British-born sailor Claude Choules in Australia last year. During the First World War she worked at Narborough Airfield and RAF Marham, Norfolk, as an Officer's Mess steward. Mrs Green, who was born in London, lived with her daughter May, 90, in King's Lynn, Norfolk, but had moved into Briar House care home shortly before Christmas where she died on Saturday. Related Articles 05 May 2011 Her family paid tribute to the veteran, describing her as "a great woman". Her daughter May said: "She so nearly made it to her 111th birthday. It is very sad.

We are grateful for all the nice tributes." Mrs Green's younger daughter June Evetts, from Oundle, Northants., 76, said: "I'm very proud of her and she was very proud of the recognition she received." Mrs Green spent her war days working ''all hours'' serving officers breakfast, lunch and dinner and would often spend time wandering the base simply ''admiring the pilots''. Before her death she said: ''I enjoyed my time in the WRAF. There were plenty of people at the airfields where I worked and they were all very good company. ''I would work every hour God sent but I had dozens of friends on the base and we had a great deal of fun in our spare time. In many ways I had the time of my life. ''I met dozens of pilots and would go on dates. I had the opportunity to go up in one of the planes but I was scared of flying. ''It was a lovely experience and I'm very proud.'' Her story came to light after Andrew Holmes, a British correspondent for the US-based Gerontology Research Group, traced her name using the National Archive.

Mr Holmes tracks and validates the ages of people over 110 and also keeps track of British men and women who are older than 107. He was stunned to locate a service record on the National Archive for Florence Beatrice Patterson, the grandmother's maiden name. Mr Holmes traced the records further and was surprised to find Florence had joined the WRAF in September 1918 - two months before the war ended on November 11, 1918. He said: ''It's a common misconception that a veteran must be someone who saw action or fighting in the trenches. ''A veteran is someone who served in one of the Armed forces, regardless of their role - a medic, an ambulance driver or a waitress - they all count. ''Obviously the last surviving veterans of any war are likely to be the youngest and therefore would not have served long.'' Last May the only living male First World War combat veteran, British-born sailor Claude Choules, died in Australia at the age of 110. Britain's last survivor of the First World War trenches Harry Patch - known as 'The Last Tommy' - who died in July 2009 aged 111.

RAF Squadron Leader Paula Willmot said RAF Marham, where Mrs Green was stationed for seven months, would pay its respects to the veteran "in true style". She said: "We will be supporting the family at the funeral. We are sending a number of our stewards as a tribute to her. "We kept in contact with her and visited her just before Christmas to give her a Christmas cake, which she was delighted with. "We were due to visit her on Friday to celebrate her 111th birthday. It is a very sad occassion, but what an amazing woman. "She is very much a Norfolk lass. We have very good memories of her. RAF Marham will be paying its respects in true style." Florence celebrated her 110th birthday on February 19, last year with her daughter May, who was her full-time carer. She is also survived by her son Bob, 86, who lives in Edinburgh, and four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was married to husband Walter, a railway porter in 1920, for 50 years until his death in 1970.

Andrew Holmes, UK correspondent for the Gerontology Research Group, confirmed Mrs Green was the only remaining WW1 veteran in the world. He said: "I am saddened by her death. Florence was the sixth oldest person in the UK and the only remaining WW1 veteran in the world." Sian Taylor, deputy manager of Briar House care home in King's Lynn, Norfolk, said Mrs Green "always had a smile on her face." She said: "Florence came to us on November 23 last year. She was a lovely, very well mannered woman and she always had a smile on her face. "She was immobile, but would talk about the old days to the carers and other residents who would visit her in her room.

"A carer took her some water at 5am on Saturday and sadly found she had died in her sleep." British first world war veteran Harry Patch dies at 111 | World news | The Guardian British first world war veteran Harry Patch dies at 111 Last surviving veteran of the trenches dies at his care home in Somerest Staff and agencies Close This article is 7 years old Harry Patch, the last British survivor of the first world war to fight in the trenches, died today in Somerset at the age of 111. Harry Patch at the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day in London last year. Photograph: Alessia Pierdomenico/PA Known as the last Tommy, Patch fought in the battle of Passchendaele in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British troops died. He became Britain's oldest man when fellow veteran Henry Allingham , who served in the Royal Navy and the RAF, died at the age of 113 a week ago. The sole British survivor of the first world war is now seaman Claude Choules, 108, who lives in Australia.

Gordon Brown led the tributes to Patch today, saying: "I had the honour of meeting Harry, and I share his family's grief at the passing of a great man." The prime minister said the sacrifices of Patch's generation would never be forgotten. "We say today with still greater force: 'We will remember them'." Close friend Jim Ross, who visited Patch regularly over many years, said he had been a peaceful man. "Harry died peacefully, surrounded by his many friends," he said. "While the country may remember Harry as a soldier, we will remember him as a dear friend. "He was a man of peace who used his great age and fame as the last survivor of the trenches to communicate two simple messages: remember with gratitude and respect those who served on all sides; settle disputes by discussion, not war." 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 17 June 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. After six months' training, he was sent to the frontline. Prince Charles paid tribute to Patch's loyalty and service during the war. "Harry was involved in numerous bouts of heavy fighting on the frontline but amazingly remained unscathed for a while," he told the BBC. "Tragically one night in September 1917 when in the morass in the Ypres Salient a German shrapnel shell burst overhead badly wounding Harry and killing three of his closest friends. "In spite of the comparatively short time that he served with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, Harry always cherished the extraordinary camaraderie that the appalling conditions engendered in the battalion and remained loyal to the end." Patch's biographer, Richard Van Emden, told the BBC his death was "an enormous loss". "He was the last of that generation and the poignancy of that is almost overwhelming. He remembered all of those who died and suffered, and every time he was honoured he knew it was for all of those who fought." Van Emden said his conversations with Patch as he compiled the story of his life were, "a real education".

"He had a sparkle about him, a dry sense of humour, he was just a lovely man. He was one of the most rewarding people to be with." Fletcher House nursing home in Wells, Somerset, where Patch died, said his funeral was being arranged in accordance with his wishes. Last British Army WWI veteran dead at 111 - CNN.com Last British Army WWI veteran dead at 111 Story Highlights Harry Patch, dead at 111, was last British survivor of World War One trench warfare Patch was seriously wounded in Ypres, Belgium, in 1917 at Battle of Passchendaele Patch "tried to suppress memories and to live as normal a life as possible" Former soldier gradually opened up about his experiences in final years of life LONDON, England (CNN) -- Harry Patch -- the last surviving British soldier from World War I -- died Saturday at the age of 111, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. Harry Patch, pictured here on November 11, 2008, at an Armistice Day commemoration ceremony in London. Patch died peacefully at his care home in the southwestern English city of Wells, the ministry announced.

His death came a week after fellow British World War I veteran Henry Allingham died at the age of 113. Patch was the last surviving soldier to have witnessed the horrors of trench warfare in the first World War He fought and was seriously wounded in Ypres, Belgium, in 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele, in which 70,000 of his fellow soldiers died -- including three of his close friends. Born in 1898, Patch became a plumber before being conscripted to the army in 1916. After training, Patch was recruited to The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry as a Lewis gunner assistant. The unit was rushed to the front line trenches of Ypres, where soldiers were urgently needed to replace those who were wounded and dying by the thousand. He fought in the trenches between June and September of 1917 and was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war. In late September he was wounded when a light shell exploded above his head, bringing an end to his military service. He received battlefield treatment without anesthetic. After the war, Harry returned to his work as a plumber and later became a sanitary engineer.

He married Ada Billington, a young girl he met while convalescing after the battle. They married in 1919 and had two sons. In World War II, Patch joined the Auxiliary Fire Service and helped tackle the fires caused by heavy German raids on the English cities of Bath and Bristol. At one point, he was sent to organize sanitary arrangements for soldiers at a camp near Yeovil, where he became friendly with some of the men. Patch remembered the shock of finding the camp deserted, with coffee still hot and meals half-eaten, on the morning that the soldiers had gone off to France, the Ministry of Defence said. His wife, Ada, died in 1976, and their two sons also later died. Patch remarried in 1980, but he became a widower for the second time four years later. Patch didn't speak about the war until he turned 100, the Ministry of Defence said. "He tried to suppress the memories and to live as normal a life as possible; the culture of his time said that he was fortunate to have survived and that he should get on with his life," a Ministry of Defence biography says.

"That suited Harry; he could 'forget' his demons, the memories of what happened to him and to his close friends." In 1998, a television producer with an interest in the war talked to Patch, who then made the decision to speak of his memories, the Ministry of Defence said. He took part in a documentary on the war and began gradually to open up. It wasn't long before Patch became a spokesman for his generation, speaking about the horrors of the war as well as his own emotions and reactions, the Ministry of Defence said. "In speaking about his experiences, Harry began at last to come to terms with his war, and was at peace with himself and his memories," the Defence Ministry said. "His thoughts then turned to reconciliation, to the long-term effects of suffering and coming to terms with that suffering." Patch returned to Belgium in 2002, something he had said he would never do, and laid a wreath to his battalion, the Defence Ministry said. Two years later, he met and shook hands with a German artilleryman from the Western Front, Charles Kuentz. Patch later laid a wreath at Langemark Cemetery for the German war dead.

In his last years, Patch was honored at Buckingham Palace and the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street. On his 101st birthday France awarded him the Knighthood of the Legion of Honor, and this year President Nicolas Sarkozy upgraded that to the rank of officer. Last year, King Albert II of Belgium made Patch a Knight of the Order of Leopold. "Harry was delighted to receive these awards and wore the medals with great pride, but he always made it clear that he wore these medals as a representative of the selfless generation he had come to represent," the Ministry of Defence said. Patch wrote a book detailing his life in 2007, called "The Last Fighting Tommy." The name referred to the slang term for British privates. "While the country may remember Harry as a soldier, we will remember him as a dear friend," said Jim Ross, a close friend. "He was a man of peace who used his great age and fame as the last survivor of the trenches to communicate two simple messages: Remember with gratitude and respect those who served on all sides, (and) settle disputes by discussion, not war." Gen.

Richard Dannatt, the chief of the general staff, issued a statement expressing his sadness about Patch's death. "Self-effacing about his experiences in the trenches he was no less effective in describing the horror they represented when invited to speak to schoolchildren about the realities of war." Dannatt said. "He was the last of a generation that in youth was steadfast in its duty in the face of cruel sacrifice and we give thanks for his life -- as well as those of his comrades -- for upholding the same values and freedom that we continue to cherish and fight for today." Harry Patch, the Last of Britain’s Army Veterans of World War I, Is Dead at 111 - The New York Times The New York Times Europe |Harry Patch, the Last of Britain’s Army Veterans of World War I, Is Dead at 111 Search Continue reading the main story LONDON — Harry Patch, the last British survivor of the fighting in the trenches on the Western Front where hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Britain and its colonies were killed in World War I, died Saturday at the age of 111, according to staff members at the nursing home in western England where he lived his last years. Mr.

Patch’s death came 92 years after he fought in the army as a machine gunner in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, at Passchendaele in 1917. “He just quietly slipped away at 9 a.m. this morning,” said Andrew Larpent, chief executive of the nursing home at Wells in Somerset. “It was how he would have wanted it, without having to be moved to hospitals, but here, peacefully with his friends and carers.” In recent years, Mr. Patch and a dwindling group of other World War I veterans became poignant symbols in Britain of what President Woodrow Wilson called “a war to end all wars,” and a reminder of the 20 million people historians estimate to have died in the conflict. To many, the veterans stood as totems of a vanished age of self-sacrifice, loyalty and honor, and, some said, as a living rebuke to the more self-centered mores of contemporary Britain. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Those themes were echoed in the tributes that poured forth for Mr. Patch on Saturday, including from Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

“We will never forget the bravery and enormous sacrifice of his generation, which will continue to serve as an example to us all,” the queen said in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace. Mr. Brown told reporters that he shared the grief “at the passing of a great man” and said: “The noblest of all generations has left us, but they will never be forgotten. We say today with still greater force, ‘We will remember them.’ ” Photo Harry Patch in 2008. Credit Don McCullin/Ministry of Defense Just a week before Mr. Patch died, the only other living Briton who served on the Western Front, Henry Allingham , who at 113 was Britain ’s oldest man, died in a nursing home in Brighton. Mr. Allingham, who saw combat on land, at sea and in the air as a mechanic for the Royal Naval Air Service, was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as being the world's oldest man, according to available documentary records. Mr. Allingham’s death led the Defense Ministry to describe Mr.

Patch as “the last British survivor of the First World War.” That appeared not to take into account another British-born survivor, Claude Choules, 108, who served in the Royal Navy and lives in Australia. In any case, Mr. Patch was unquestionably one of the last surviving veterans from a war in which nearly 70 million men on all sides were mobilized. An account of his death by The Associated Press said there were no French or German veterans of the war still living. The last living American veteran is Frank Woodruff Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia, 108, who served in Britain and France during the war driving army ambulances and motorcycles. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy In May 1917, Mr. Patch arrived in the frontline trenches and was almost immediately thrust into the fighting at Passchendaele, near the Belgian town of Ypres. The battle was the brainchild of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, who intended the Allied offensive to punch through the front lines to German-occupied ports on the Belgian coast.

The offensive quickly bogged down in the morass created by torrential rain and artillery fire, and gained only a few miles of wasteland at the cost of nearly half a million Allied soldiers’ lives. According to his 2007 memoir, “The Last Fighting Tommy,” Mr. Patch survived three months of fighting unscathed until a German shell exploded over the heads of his machine-gun crew on the night of Sept. 17, 1917, killing three of his closest friends and wounding Mr. Patch so severely that he was sent home. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Born on June 17, 1898, Mr. Patch left school at 15 to become an apprentice plumber but was conscripted for military service on his 18th birthday. After World War I, he returned to plumbing, raised a family and outlived three wives and two sons from his first marriage. But for 80 years, until the end of the 20th century, he avoided talking about his wartime experiences. When he did reminisce, it was with a sense that war was pointless.

At a remembrance ceremony in 2007, he said he felt humbled to be “representing an entire generation,” but he insisted that the occasion was not about him. “It is for the countless millions who did not come home,” he said. “They are the heroes. It is also important that we remember those who lost their lives on both sides.” In an interview with Britain’s ITN television news channel shortly before he died, Mr. Patch was asked if the effort invested by the Allies in World War I was worth the lives that were lost. “No, it wasn’t worth one,” he said. A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: Harry Patch, the Last of Britain’s Army Veterans of World War I, Is Dead at 111. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Last British soldier of the First World War dies | Toronto Star World Last British soldier of the First World War dies Harry Patch, the last British army veteran of the First World War, has died at 111, the nursing home where he lived said Saturday.

By Jill LawlessTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sat., July 25, 2009 LONDON–Harry Patch, the last British army veteran of the First World War, has died at 111, the nursing home where he lived said Saturday. The Fletcher House care home in Wells, southwest England, said Patch died early Saturday. "He just quietly slipped away at 9 a.m. this morning," said care home manager Andrew Larpent. "It was how he would have wanted it, without having to be moved to hospitals but here, peacefully with his friends and carers." 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. Prince Charles said "nothing could give me greater pride" than paying tribute to Patch. Patch had been the last surviving soldier from the British army to have served in the 1914-18 war. The only other surviving U.K.-based British veteran of the war, former airman Henry Allingham, died a week ago at age 113.

The Ministry of Defence called Patch "the last British survivor of the First World War," although 108-year-old Claude Choules of Australia is believed to have served in the Royal Navy during the conflict. Born in southwest England in 1898, Patch was called up for military service in 1916 when he was working as a teenage apprentice plumber. After training he was sent to the trenches as a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. A few weeks later, in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, at Passchendaele near the Belgian town of Ypres, he was badly wounded and three of his best friends were killed by a shell explosion. Patch's death Saturday severs Britain's living links with "the war to end all wars," which killed about 20 million people. In recent years he and his dwindling band of fellow survivors became poignant symbols of the conflict. Last year he, Allingham and British naval veteran 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 memorial. Stone died in January. 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." Patch said he did not speak about the war for 80 years. But he came to believe the casualties were not 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." Last WWI combat veteran Claude Choules dies aged 110 - BBC News BBC News Last WWI combat veteran Claude Choules dies aged 110 5 May 2011 Close share panel Image caption Claude Choules celebrated his 110th birthday with family in March The world's last known combat veteran of World War I, Claude Choules, has died in Australia aged 110. Known to his comrades as Chuckles, British-born Mr Choules joined the Royal Navy at 15 and went on to serve on HMS Revenge. He moved to Australia in the 1920s and served in the military until 1956. Mr Choules, who had been married to his wife Ethel for 76 years, was reported to have died in his sleep at a nursing home in his adopted city of Perth. He is survived by three children and 11 grandchildren. His wife died three years ago. Mr Choules' 84-year-old daughter, Daphne Edinger, told the Associated Press news agency: "We all loved him.

It's going to be sad to think of him not being here any longer, but that's the way things go." Demolition officer Obituary: Claude Choules Born in Pershore, Worcestershire, in March 1901, Mr Choules tried to enlist in the Army at the outbreak of WWI to join his elder brothers who were fighting, but was told he was too young. He lied about his age to become a Royal Navy rating, joining the battleship HMS Revenge on which he saw action in the North Sea aged 17. He witnessed the surrender of the German fleet in the Firth of Forth in November 1918, then the scuttling of the fleet at Scapa Flow. Mr Choules remembered WWI as a "tough" life, marked by occasional moments of extreme danger. After the war he served as a peacekeeper in the Black Sea and in 1926 was posted as an instructor to Flinders Naval Depot, near Melbourne. It was on the passenger liner to Australia that he met his future wife. He transferred to the Royal Australian Navy and after a brief spell in the reserves rejoined as a Chief Petty Officer in 1932.

During World War II he was chief demolition officer for the western half of Australia. It would have been his responsibility to blow up the key strategic harbour of Fremantle, near Perth, if Japan had invaded. Mr Choules joined the Naval Dockyard Police after finishing his service. But despite his military record, Mr Choules became a pacifist. He was known to have disagreed with the celebration of Australia's most important war memorial holiday, Anzac Day, and refused to march in the annual commemoration parades. He took a creative writing course at the age of 80 and recorded his memoirs for his family. They formed the basis of the autobiography, The Last of the Last, which was published in 2009. The last three WWI veterans living in Britain - Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch - all died in 2009. Another Briton, Florence Green - who turned 110 in February and was a waitress in the Women's Royal Air Force - is now thought to be the world's last known surviving service member of WWI. An American veteran, Frank Buckles, died earlier this year.

BBC NEWS | UK | WWI veteran Patch dies aged 111 WWI veteran Patch dies aged 111 Harry Patch fought at the Battle of Passchendaele in World War I 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 Combe Down, near Bath, and had been living at a care home in Wells, Somerset. The sole British survivor of the war is former seaman Claude Choules, who is aged 108 and lives in Perth, Australia. 'Great man' Mr Choules, who is originally from Worcestershire, saw service with the Royal Navy. Henry Allingham, who served in the navy and the RAF in WWI, died at the age of 113 a week ago. The Queen said she was "saddened" to hear of Mr Patch's death.

Gordon Brown: ''This is the last of a generation of heroes'' "We will never forget the bravery and enormous sacrifice of his generation, which will continue to serve as an example to us all." Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "I had the honour of meeting Harry, and I share his family's grief at the passing of a great man. "I know that the whole nation will unite today to honour the memory, and to take pride in the generation that fought the Great War. The noblest of all the generations has left us, but they will never be forgotten." A national memorial service should be held as "a special commemoration" of the efforts of Mr Patch and "a generation of people" who fought in World War I, Mr Brown added. 'Remained loyal' The Prince of Wales said nothing could give him greater pride than paying tribute to Mr Patch. He told the BBC: "Harry was involved in numerous bouts of heavy fighting on the front line but amazingly remained unscathed for a while.

SURVIVING WWI VETERANS John Babcock, who turned 109 on 23 July, was with Canada's Boys Battalion in England but the war ended before he turned 18 and could go to the front Frank Buckles, 108, joined the American army aged just 16 and was held in reserve in England from December 1917. After six months he was sent to France but never saw action on the frontline Claude Choules, 108, served with the Royal Navy during World War I. Originally from Worcestershire, he now lives in Perth, Australia "Tragically one night in September 1917 when in the morass in the Ypres Salient a German shrapnel shell burst overhead badly wounding Harry and killing three of his closest friends.

"In spite of the comparatively short time that he served with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, Harry always cherished the extraordinary camaraderie that the appalling conditions engendered in the battalion and remained loyal to the end." Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said: "He was the last of a generation that in youth was steadfast in its duty in the face of cruel sacrifice and we give thanks for his life - as well as those of his comrades - for upholding the same values and freedom that we continue to cherish and fight for today." Conservative leader David Cameron said: "The passing of our last surviving WWI soldier marks the end of an era and is a reminder of the huge debt of gratitude we owe Harry and those he served alongside." 'Last of generation' Mr Patch was born on 17 June 1898 and left school at the age of 15 to train as a plumber. He was a machine-gunner in the trenches and served as a private from June to September 1917.

Prince Charles spoke of the terrible conditions faced by soldiers during WWI Mr Patch was at the time of his death the oldest man in Europe and the third oldest man in the world, according to the Ministry of Defence. He was married twice, first in 1919 in Hadley, Shropshire, to Ada which lasted 60 years, and then to Jean when he was 81. He had two sons with Ada, Dennis and Roy, both of whom he outlived. From 2003 he had a third partner, Doris, who lived in the same retirement home and died two years ago. Florence Green: Last surviving World War One veteran dies just before her 111th birthday | Daily Mail Online comments The world's last surviving First World War veteran has died - marking the end of an era in British history. Florence Green, who joined the war effort in September 1918, when she was aged just 17, passed away in her sleep at a Norfolk care home just two weeks before her 111th birthday.

The great-grandmother, who lived through all but 400 days of the 20th century, signed up to the Women's Royal Air Force two months before the end of the First World War. She was the last surviving person to have seen active service in the Great War following the death of British-born sailor Claude Choules in Australia last year. Write caption here Mrs Green, who was born in London, worked at Narborough Airfield and RAF Marham, Norfolk, as an Officer's Mess steward. Florence spent her war days working 'all hours' serving officers their meals. And she would often spend time wandering the base simply 'admiring the pilots', she admitted.. Before her death she said: 'I enjoyed my time in the WRAF. There were plenty of people at the airfields where I worked and they were all very good company. 'I would work every hour God sent but I had dozens of friends on the base and we had a great deal of fun in our spare time. In many ways I had the time of my life. 'I met dozens of pilots and would go on dates. I had the opportunity to go up in one of the planes but I was scared of flying.

It was a lovely experience and I'm very proud.' In later life she lived with her daughter May, 90, in King's Lynn, Norfolk, but had moved into Briar House care home shortly before Christmas where she died on Saturday. Her proud family today paid tribute to the veteran, describing her as 'a great woman'. May said: 'She so nearly made it to her 111th birthday. It is very sad. We are grateful for all the nice tributes.' Florence Green (circled far right third row up) with the other women who served at Narborough Airfield, where she was a waitress in the officers' mess Mrs Green lived with daughter May (right) before she moved into a care home. May described her mother as 'a great woman' Mrs Green's younger daughter June Evetts, from Oundle, Northamptonshire, 76, said: 'I'm very proud of her and she was very proud of the recognition she received.' Her amazing story came to light after Andrew Holmes, a British correspondent for the US-based Gerontology Research Group, traced her name using the National Archive.

Mr Holmes tracks and validates the ages of people over 110 and also keeps track of British men and women who are older than 107. He was stunned to locate a service record on the National Archive for Florence Beatrice Patterson, Mrs Green's maiden name. Mr Holmes traced the records further and was surprised to find Florence had joined the WRAF in September 1918 - two months before the war ended on November 11, 1918. He said: 'It's a common misconception that a veteran must be someone who saw action or fighting in the trenches. 'A veteran is someone who served in one of the Armed forces, regardless of their role - a medic, an ambulance driver or a waitress - they all count. 'Obviously the last surviving veterans of any war are likely to be the youngest and therefore would not have served long.' He added: 'I am saddened by her death. Florence was the sixth oldest person in the UK and the only remaining WW1 veteran in the world.' The original aim of the WRAF, which was set up as an auxiliary organisation of the Royal Air Force in 1918, was to provide female mechanics to allow men to serve on the front line.

However, the organisation saw huge enrollment, with women volunteering for positions as drivers and mechanics and filling other wartime needs. This first WRAF was disbanded in 1920. Heroes: British-born Claude Choules (left) was the last surviving First World War combat veteran before his death last year. Harry Patch (right), who was Britain's last survivor of the trenches, died in July 2009, aged 111 Last May the only living male First World War combat veteran, British-born sailor Claude Choules, died in Australia at the age of 110. Britain's last survivor of the First World War trenches Harry Patch - known as 'The Last Tommy' - died in July 2009 aged 111. RAF Squadron Leader Paula Willmot yesterday said RAF Marham, where Florence was stationed for seven months, would pay its respects to the veteran 'in true style'. She said: 'We will be supporting the family at the funeral. We are sending a number of our stewards as a tribute to her. 'We kept in contact with her and visited her just before Christmas to give her a Christmas cake, which she was delighted with.

'We were due to visit her on Friday to celebrate her 111th birthday. It is a very sad occasion, but what an amazing woman. 'She is very much a Norfolk lass. We have very good memories of her. RAF Marham will be paying its respects in true style.' RAF Marham in Norfolk, where Mrs Green was stationed, is still in use today as a base for fighter pilots Florence celebrated her 110th birthday on February 19, last year with her daughter May, who was her full-time carer. She is also survived by her son Bob, 86, who lives in Edinburgh, and four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was married to husband Walter, a railway porter in 1920, for 50 years until his death in 1970. Sian Taylor, deputy manager of Briar House care home in King's Lynn, Norfolk, said Mrs Green 'always had a smile on her face.' She said: 'Florence came to us on November 23 last year. She was a lovely, very well-mannered woman and she always had a smile on her face.

'She was immobile, but would talk about the old days to the carers and other residents who would visit her in her room. 'A carer took her some water at 5am on Saturday and sadly found she had died in her sleep.'

Question: What was his name of the last surviving British veteran of World War I, who died in July 2009 at the age of 111?
Answer: Harry Patch