A sad waste of time and lives; VIEWPOINTS.

SIR - I read Mr Jim Morgan's admirable letter about Harry Patch's views on wars (Viewpoints, September 2).

Like Mr Morgan, I watched Mr Patch commenting about his three comrades who perished during World War II.

I recall he was asked whether it was worth the lives sacrificed. I remember he answered, "No, not one!" while lifting a finger to emphasise the point.

I don't really know, but I thought Harry was referring to World War II.

Those of us who served in WWII were fighting to save our country, but World War I was an entirely different kettle of fish.

History books record that WWI started when the nations went to war to avenge the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

At the age of 16, my late father enlisted in the Royal Navy at the start of WWI. He was hospitalised three times in The Royal Haslar Hospital - once because of food poisoning caused by profiteers selling tainted meat to the navy, the second time because of a shrapnel injury and the third time when he was struck down in 1918 by the virulent Spanish 'flu.

He would never talk about his experiences, but when, near the end of his life in his nineties, I asked him about World War I, all he would say was that "It was a waste of time". So you see, he was one who agreed with Harry Patch.

Barbara MacArthur Cranbrook Street, Cardiff