The last British Tommy dies !
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 World War I is now seaman Claude Choules who is aged 108 and lives in Australia.
'Great man'
Henry Allingham, who served in the Royal Navy and the RAF in WWI, died at the age of 113 a week ago.
Mr Patch's biographer Richard Van Emden said he passed away at 0850 BST on Saturday morning.
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.
Prince Charles spoke of the terrible conditions faced by soldiers during WWI
"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. We say today with still greater force - 'We will remember them'."
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.
"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."
'True gentleman'
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.
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.
Mr Van Emden said Mr Patch was "one of the most rewarding people to be with."
Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army aged 18
"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," he said.
Mr Patch's friend Lesley Ross said she felt great affection towards him.
"Extremely modest, dignified gentleman, with a slightly wicked sense of humour and considerate to everybody he met. Very polite and I would sum him up as a true gentleman," she said.
The Fletcher House care home said in a statement it extended its deepest sympathies to Mr Patch's family and friends.
Andrew Larpent, chief executive of Somerset Care, said Mr Patch died peacefully in his bed having been unwell for some time.
"His friends and his family have been here. He just quietly slipped away at 9am this morning," he said.
"It was how he would have wanted it, without having to be moved to hospitals but here, peacefully with his friends and carers."
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 World War I is now seaman Claude Choules who is aged 108 and lives in Australia.
'Great man'
Henry Allingham, who served in the Royal Navy and the RAF in WWI, died at the age of 113 a week ago.
Mr Patch's biographer Richard Van Emden said he passed away at 0850 BST on Saturday morning.
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.
Prince Charles spoke of the terrible conditions faced by soldiers during WWI
"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. We say today with still greater force - 'We will remember them'."
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.
"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."
'True gentleman'
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.
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.
Mr Van Emden said Mr Patch was "one of the most rewarding people to be with."
Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army aged 18
"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," he said.
Mr Patch's friend Lesley Ross said she felt great affection towards him.
"Extremely modest, dignified gentleman, with a slightly wicked sense of humour and considerate to everybody he met. Very polite and I would sum him up as a true gentleman," she said.
The Fletcher House care home said in a statement it extended its deepest sympathies to Mr Patch's family and friends.
Andrew Larpent, chief executive of Somerset Care, said Mr Patch died peacefully in his bed having been unwell for some time.
"His friends and his family have been here. He just quietly slipped away at 9am this morning," he said.
"It was how he would have wanted it, without having to be moved to hospitals but here, peacefully with his friends and carers."
10 comments:
http://www.newsnet14.com/2007/06/the-fallacy-of-multiculturalism-revealed/#more-5003
The Parable of the Old Man and the Young.
So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps
and builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him, thy son.
Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,
A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.
Wilfred Owen.
A soldier for the standing BANKERS.
The lies that must have be feed to these old men and us over the decades, at least some truth is now coming out. "Stalinism equated to Nazism." Hopefully the full truth that the Reds were the worst terror of all times will one day be revealed, so that the Marxists who run our country will have the light shed on them?
http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-07-03/OSCE_equates_Stalinism_to_Nazism.html
That Tory woman Chloe Smith who has just been elected worked for the Jewess Gillian Sheppard MP, she is also a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel. 'Nice' little set they have, Griffin will be happy?
Traitor Brown's eulogizing over the patriotic hero, Harry Patch, is his attempt at wrapping himself in the English flag to convince the indigenous British he too is a patriot ..... after you with the sick bag.
Anonymous said...
A soldier for the standing BANKERS.
25 July 2009 17:49
Maybe but he is an hero nonetheless. Could you have fought in the trenches ?
Can our generation have done what his generation did ?
We can't even defend the BNP from usurpers like Nick Griffin.
We need soldiers in our struggle.
Harry Patch was no friend of politicians.
Most wars have been fought for big business and money.
Anonymous said...
A soldier for the standing BANKERS.
25 July 2009 17:49
Maybe but he is an hero nonetheless. Could you have fought in the trenches ?
Can our generation have done what his generation did ?
We can't even defend the BNP from usurpers like Nick Griffin.
We need soldiers in our struggle.
Harry Patch was no friend of politicians.
...................................
Why is he a hero?
you are falling into the zionist trap,then as now they are working purely for bankers.
I would hope todays young men have more sense than to live and die in rat infested mud.
Anonymous said...
A soldier for the standing BANKERS.
25 July 2009 17:49
Maybe but he is an hero nonetheless. Could you have fought in the trenches ?
Can our generation have done what his generation did ?
We can't even defend the BNP from usurpers like Nick Griffin.
We need soldiers in our struggle.
Harry Patch was no friend of politicians.
...................................
Why do you say he is a hero?
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