Harry Patch Dies

[will]

im actually heartbroken at the news that britans last world war 1 living veteran has died in the early hours of today (25/7/09) just a week after the last naval veteran of world war 1 died, harry was a machine gunner in the battle of passendale, 1917. his book, the last fighting tommy, is availible.

pay any respects here

[Blue 250]

My old grandad fought at Passchendaele, never spoke of it, just sat in his chair and looked on at us kids.Must have wondered if what his generation went through was worth the cost.I remember we took him to a beach one day in the late 60's and he sat on his deck chair with his flat cap and boots on, as usual not really say very much to us young kids, I only found out many years later that he had also seen action at Gallipoli, I've often wondered what was going through his mind on that beach when you think about what happened at Gallipoli.

 

I have Max Arthurs book "The last post"...."The final word from our first world war soldiers"..Harry Patch is one of those soldiers, so obviously was the other veteran who you mentioned.Very sad book, but it should be on every school book shelf.

 

The last of a great generation, I think they would hate what Britain has become.They probably sat in their trenches thinking at least they and thier fellow soldiers were being blown apart for a good reason.

 

Lets hope Harry Patch and all his old comrades are now resting in peace.

[will]

My old grandad fought at Passchendaele, never spoke of it, just sat in his chair and looked on at us kids.Must have wondered if what his generation went through was worth the cost.I remember we took him to a beach one day in the late 60's and he sat on his deck chair with his flat cap and boots on, as usual not really say very much to us young kids, I only found out many years later that he had also seen action at Gallipoli, I've often wondered what was going through his mind on that beach when you think about what happened at Gallipoli.

 

I have Max Arthurs book "The last post"...."The final word from our first world war soldiers"..Harry Patch is one of those soldiers, so obviously was the other veteran who you mentioned.Very sad book, but it should be on every school book shelf.

 

The last of a great generation, I think they would hate what Britain has become.They probably sat in their trenches thinking at least they and thier fellow soldiers were being blown apart for a good reason.

 

Lets hope Harry Patch and all his old comrades are now resting in peace.

brilliant, and another soldier died in afghanistan today, thats around 20 this month, around three times of that died every day on the western front, imagine how bad that would have been

[zequist]

brilliant, and another soldier died in afghanistan today, thats around 20 this month, around three times of that died every day on the western front, imagine how bad that would have been

 

Well good grief, the Battle of the Somme saw 20,000 British soldiers killed just on the first day alone. I think the difference today is that 1) back then you didn't have embedded media beaming photos and video footage of the carnage to all the citizens back home, all they saw was numbers in a newspaper story, and 2) the death tolls were so incredible that they're almost numbing. A wise man once said that it's easier to understand the death of one than the death of a million, and that's probably true. If one person gets killed by a roadside bomb, people see the victim's picture in the paper and hear stories in the media about how his friends back home are coping with the tragedy. If a thousand soldiers die in a single day in a huge infantry battle, you might find a list of names somewhere, but not many of their individual stories would ever be highlighted, because there's just too many of them. 20,000 dying in a single day...well, that's just mind-boggling. It's no wonder the survivors didn't want to talk about it - who can blame them?

 

Anyway, there aren't too many more left to talk about it now, even if they wanted to. Only three known combat veterans of the war are left: one American, one Canadian, and one British ex-pat living in Australia.

Edited July 26, 2009 by JD in DC

[toffeetom]

As a serving soldier in Afghanistan tis news saddens me. I rememeber coming back from Iraq and people calling me a 'hero' and i hate it because I think of what the old boys did in ww1 and 2 and Iraq and afghanistan must be like a walk in the park. Altough that being said i lost two friends in the IRA attack on my camp in northern ireland and lost my best friend Jordan Rossi the other month out here and I have to say, seeing both incidents and many more....im a changed man and not in a good way. I can only think of the men of the generations before as the real heroes.

[Blue 250]

As a serving soldier in Afghanistan tis news saddens me. I rememeber coming back from Iraq and people calling me a 'hero' and i hate it because I think of what the old boys did in ww1 and 2 and Iraq and afghanistan must be like a walk in the park. Altough that being said i lost two friends in the IRA attack on my camp in northern ireland and lost my best friend Jordan Rossi the other month out here and I have to say, seeing both incidents and many more....im a changed man and not in a good way. I can only think of the men of the generations before as the real heroes.

 

Don't underestimate what your doing out there in Afghanistan, your no different to the armed fources of both world wars.Maybe the England they fought for was a bit different from the England of today, I think theirs was a more moral cause.But you servicemen are a credit to this country.If you think Iraq and Afhganistan are a "walk in the park", then I'm glad I'm not in that park!Our town buried cpl Lee Scott last week, he left behind an 8 month old baby and a 4 year old....he's a hero, but his kids wanted a dad!!

Your all heros mate......keep your head down!

[thebluenose]

Don't underestimate what your doing out there in Afghanistan, your no different to the armed fources of both world wars.Maybe the England they fought for was a bit different from the England of today, I think theirs was a more moral cause.But you servicemen are a credit to this country.If you think Iraq and Afhganistan are a "walk in the park", then I'm glad I'm not in that park!Our town buried cpl Lee Scott last week, he left behind an 8 month old baby and a 4 year old....he's a hero, but his kids wanted a dad!!

Your all heros mate......keep your head down!

 

+10000 never truer words spoken

[MikeO]

Just watching the funeral on the beeb news channel (met my wife in the building next door to where he lived and used to do voluntary driving around Wells, went into Fletcher House many times around the time he moved in).

 

Personally (and with no disrespect to Tom or any other current servicemen) I think there is a bit of difference between the conscripts of Paschendale (my grandfather was one) and the professional soldiers of today. The opportunity for heroism is the same perhaps but the circumstances under which they went to war, and the conditions in which they lived are not really comparable for me....and neither are the death rates. My grandfather didn't die until 1957 but he never recovered.