Great War veteran Harry Patch dies aged 111
Great War veteran Harry Patch dies aged 111
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By Adam Leveridge. |  |
Saturday, 25, Jul 2009 05:01
By Lewis Bazley.
Harry Patch, the last British survivor of the first world war trenches, has died at the age of 111.
Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army as an 18-year-old and fought at the Battle of Passchendaele in Ypres, Belgium, in 1917, in which more than 70,000 British troops died.
Having grown up near Bath, he had been living in a care home in Wells, Somerset.
Mr Patch, known as the Last Tommy, had become Britain's oldest man earliest this month when another veteran of the war, Henry Allingham, died on July 18th aged 113.
A statement from the Fletcher House care home said: "It is with much sadness that we must announce the death of Mr Harry Patch on July 25th at the age of 111.
"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."
Prime minister Gordon Brown said he shared Mr Patch's family's grief.
"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," he added.
"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'."
Mr Patch grew up in Combe Down near Bath and left school aged 15 to become a plumber.
He had reached 18 as conscription was being introduced and was sent to the front line after six months training, serving in the trenches from June to September 1917 and surviving a shell attack which killed three of his comrades.
Mr Patch had long described the day of the attack, September 22nd, as his own personal remembrance day.
A statement from the Ministry of Defence also expressed sadness at Mr Patch's passing.
"Harry didn't speak about his World War One experiences until he turned 100," it read.
"He was unfaltering in his wish for peace, stating that 'War isn't worth one life', and spent the last part of his long life as a representative of a generation, promoting peace and reconciliation."