Britain's last WW-I soldier Harry Patch dies at 111.

Byline: ANI

London, July 26 (ANI): Harry Patch, the last British soldier to have served in the First World War trenches, has died at the age of 111.

Patch, who was known as the Last Fighting Tommy, was the last living soldier to have fought in bloody battle of Passchendaele, at Ypres, in 1917 in which more than 70,000 troops died.

The veteran's death follows that of Henry Allingham, also a veteran of the Great War who died on July 18 at the age of 113.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, Patch, a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwalls's Light Infantry, died on Saturday morning at Fletcher House care home in Somerset where he was living.

The Queen paid tribute to him, saying: "I was saddened to hear of the death this morning of Harry Patch, the last British survivor or the First World War. We will never forget the bravery and enormous sacrifice of his generation, which will continue to serve as an example to us all."

The Prince of Wales also expressed his sadness, telling the BBC: "The Great War is a chapter in our history we must never forget, so many sacrifices were made, so many young lives lost. So today nothing could give me greater pride than paying tribute to Harry Patch from Somerset.

"Harry was involved in numerous bouts of heavy fighting on the front line but amazingly remained unscathed for a while. Tragically one night in September 1917 when in the morass in the Ypres Salient a German shrapnel shell burst over head badly wounding Harry and killing three of his closest friends.

"In spite of the comparatively short time that he served with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, Patch always cherished the extraordinary camaraderie that the appalling conditions engendered in the battalion and remained loyal to the end."

Chief Executive of Somerset Care, Andrew Larpent, said Patch had been unwell for some time and had died peacefully in his bed.

Patch never revelled in the fact that he was one of the last survivors of a war which had claimed the lives of so many of his friends.

"I don't like it," he once said when asked what it was like.

"I sit there and think. And some nights I dream - of that first battle. I can't forget it."

Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt said: "I know I speak on behalf of all ranks of the British Army in expressing my sadness on hearing the news of the passing of Harry Patch.

Self-effacing about his experiences in the trenches he was no less effective in describing the horror they represented when invited to speak to schoolchildren about the realities of war. He was the last of a generation that in youth was steadfast in its duty in the face of cruel sacrifice and we give thanks for his life - as well as those of his comrades - for upholding the same values and freedom that we continue to cherish and fight for today."

Gordon Brown, added: " "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'."

Veterans Minister Kevan Jones, who has also met Patch added: "It was my great pleasure to have met Harry Patch and I am deeply saddened by his death. Harry was a dignified and thoughtful representative of a brave and selfless generation. I am sure that I speak on behalf of veterans and serving members of our forces when I express my pride in his conduct as the last Tommy.

When Patch was born in Coombe Down, near Bath, on June 17, 1898, the Marquess of Salisbury was Prime Minister and Queen Victoria had two and a half years still to reign.

Kitchener was 11 weeks away from fighting the Battle of Omdurman and the outbreak of the Boer War lay 16 months into the future. H G Wells's latest work, The War of the Worlds, had just been published in book form following its successful serialisation in Pearson's Magazine.

He grew up in Coombe Down, near Bath, left school at 15 and trained as a plumber. He was 16 when war broke out and reached 18 just as conscription was being introduced. He joined the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

"I knew what it was going to be like: dirty, filthy, insanitary," he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

He was removed from the front line on September 22 1917, after being injured in an artillery bombardment which killed his friends.

He was too old to fight in the Second World War and worked as a sanitary engineer in American army camps in the south-west.

He retired in 1963. Following his first wife's death in 1976, he married again at the age of 81. His second wife died seven years ago.

In March, Patch received the insignia of the Legion d'Honneur from the French Ambassador, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, at his Somerset nursing home. Allingham received the same honour the following week. (ANI)

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