RIP Harry Patch, the last man to have fought in the WWI trenches

Not just the passing of an era. Patch himself I found a deeply inspiring, moving figure in The Last Tommy. I hope the BBC reshows it.

RIP.

RIP. just a week after Henry Allingham died too.

Alba, i see that thebox have "The Last Tommy".

on a semi related note i was moved to tears this week by watching Thora Hird in Alan Bennet's "Waiting for the Telegram".

RIP Harry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWr_MOVIvj4

wait, i totally misread this thread. disregard lol

I was moved to mention this on Twitter earlier. This is serious end-of-an era stuff -- that's it; the last living Brit who fought in the fucking hell of the trenches -- and I'm surprised and saddened that the vast majority of people don't seem to care at all.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into the symbolism, but I thought more members of the generation that claimed to be so moved by that final episode of Blackadder when we were kids might have noted his passing.

RIP, Harry. I get the impression you were a wonderful man. Never forget? I hope that's the case.

^ excellent post.

there was a piece on Today this morning about him, and it was very moving.

Well, it's funny, from where I was, there was a lot of talk about him, and people saying about passing of history and so on.

The last bit of film had him talking about rememberence, and insisting that the germans should be remembered as well.

(Also, I know it's wrong and lol and all that, but thanks for the Partch videop, didn't even think that there might be some (one?)...)

I genuinely feel affected by this and I'm finding it very difficult to understand quite why.

Perhaps because the generations born after WWII have no true sense of the horrors of war and the magnitude of its meaning? Harry Patch was our last direct link to World War I and his death leaves us with one less reminder of the sacrifices that will have to be made for war and why, therefore, it must always be the last resort of conflict resolution. His generation and the next one were not blasé or gung-ho about it as later ones were and the idea of "a war of choice" was utterly alien to them. God knows what he must have thought of Blair and Bush and their vile crusading cronies.

there was a piece on Today this morning about him, and it was very moving

Yes: god, yes, it really was.

And N1ck: yes, everything you say there is pretty much exactly what I've been feeling.

Just read that Henry Allingham retired at the age of 65 in 1960, which kind of blew my mind.

Lazy bastard, had his feet up for 49 years

Funeral on News 24 and 5Live now. Thom Yorke thankfully not singing.

Radiohead tribute (downloadable for £1, money to British legion)

http://radiohead.com/deadairspace/index.php?a=495

The Last Tommy, that alba mentioned upthread was on yesterday. is available via iplayer.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/7/26/1248601240598/Harry-Patch-in-Ypres-in-2-009.jpg
In November 2004, at the age of 106, he met Charles Kuentz,[10] a 107-year-old veteran who had fought on the German side at the battlefield of Passchendaele (and on the French side in World War II). Patch was quoted as saying: "I was a bit doubtful before meeting a German soldier. Herr Kuentz is a very nice gentleman however. He is all for a united Europe and peace – and so am I".

This is from wiki but I hope that he really said that. The fucking BNP have been milking his death on their website (as did Peter Hitchens in an article in which he blamed WW1 on left wing idealist governments).

I keep reading this as "RIP Harry Partch, the last man to have fought in the WWI trenches", which is a double take every time.

Also, Harry Batt: http://www.facebook.com/profile/pic.php?uid=AAAAAQAQfNqm43bP62PpeNngWfeNdQAAAAo_wIfNhq7KHTU6UUxM0zQo

It would have been pretty LOL if they had started hitting each other with their canes. "Take that, you kraut!" "Der Ouch! Stoppen sie it immeziately!"

xxpost

"Right! Naeboddy moove!"

"(as did Peter Hitchens in an article in which he blamed WW1 on left wing idealist governments)"

Clearly, nothing to do with the labyrinthian series of treaties and alignment pacts in force at the time.