RIP Harry Patch "The last Tommy"

raveydavey · RIP Harry Patch "The last Tommy"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6727433.ece

The last survivor of the first world war trenches has died aged 111.

Harry Patch, knicknamed the ‘Last Tommy’, died peacefully at his care home in Wells, Somerset, at 9am this morning.

His death comes one week after that of fellow veteran Henry Allingham, then the world’s oldest man, at 113.

Patch, who fought at the Battle of Passchendale in 1917, was the last veteran of the great war left in Britain. He once said: “Millions of men came to fight in this war and I find it incredible that I am the only one left.”

Born Henry Patch on 17 June 1898, in Combe Down, near Bath, he became a plumber after leaving school.

He signed up for the army when he was 18, serving as a private in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

The Battle of Passchendale at Ypres was one of the bloodiest land battles of the war and claimed 70,000 of Patch’s fellow servicemen.

Although he survived the muddy conflict Patch was later injured when an enemy shell exploded over his head, killing three of his colleagues.

The resulting shrapnel wounds put him out of action for the rest of war and he returned to Britain to recover.

He married his first wife Ada Billington in 1918 and they had two sons Dennis and Roy but Ada died in 1976 and Patch outlived both their children.

His second wife Jean, died five years ago, while his third partner Doris, who lived in the same retirement home, died last year.

He returned to plumbing after the leaving the army and joined the Auxiliary Fire Service in Bath during the second world war.

His care home Fletcher House today confirmed his death saying he slipped away peacefully in his sleep.

Chief Executive of Somerset Care, Andrew Larpent, said Mr Patch had been unwell for some time.

He added: “His friends and his family have been here and he just quietly slipped away at 9am this morning.

“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 today paid tribute to Patch, saying: “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.

“We say today with still greater force: ’We will remember them’.”

Last Saturday 113-year-old Henry Allingham, who served in the air force, died at his care home, near Brighton.

The last known British survivor of first world war, is now Worcestershire-born Claude Choules, 108, a Royal Navy veteran who lives in Australia.

halfaperson

Aye, You look at these old boys with their inward demeanour and wonder what can they be thinking.