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Last WW1 veteran dies.
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=13558		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Paul1965 [ Thu May 05, 2011 11:13 am ]
Post subject:  Last WW1 veteran dies.
Quote:
The world's last known combat veteran of World War I, Claude Choules, has died in Australia aged 110.

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.



Published his autobiography in 2009 so it's good he left his record of such a long life.

More here.
Author:  l3v1ck [ Fri May 06, 2011 5:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last WW1 veteran dies.
It seems strange that there aren't any left for remembrance day.
I'm old enough to remember there being quite a few still marching (okay, some where in wheel chairs) in the parade.

The only odd thing I find is newspaper reports saying they fought for our liberty. IMO that's crap. WW2 veterans, sure, but WW1 was a total waste of time with no real enemy in the first place.
That's not to take away the fact that they were very brave fighting for their country. It's just a shame their country asked them to fight for silly reasons.
Author:  jonbwfc [ Fri May 06, 2011 5:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last WW1 veteran dies.
l3v1ck wrote:
It seems strange that there aren't any left for remembrance day.
I'm old enough to remember there being quite a few still marching (okay, some where in wheel chairs) in the parade.

If you think about it, 20 years from now there probably won't be that many people left who fought in World War 2 either. The problem surely is that once there's nobody left who remembers what it was like, some other people are going to start thinking it wasn't such a bad thing.

Jon
Author:  cloaked_wolf [ Fri May 06, 2011 7:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last WW1 veteran dies.
Aye. We need to preserve the accounts of those who fought during the wars.

Maybe during the First World War, there was no great evil but everyday folk still had to enrol and join the fight, whether they liked it or not. This is why I respect those who fought.
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