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| The last Tommy | |
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| Topic Started: 11 Aug 2009, 06:44 PM (40 Views) | |
| Deleted User | 11 Aug 2009, 06:44 PM Post #1 |
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Deleted User
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This story was sent to you by: peter Interesting editorial in the Hartford Courant (Conn) -------------------- The Last Tommy Of WWI -------------------- WWI TRENCHES • A salute to Harry Patch, veteran of the Great War August 7 2009 For the generation that fought so nobly to end all wars, it is finally all quiet on the Western Front. Englishman Harry Patch, the last soldier to fight in the trenches of Europe in World War I, has died at 111. Thousands of people turned out to honor the "Last Fighting Tommy," who in his later years inveighed against war, calling it "organized murder," and spread a message of peace and reconciliation. The complete article can be viewed at: http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-last-wwi-solder.art.artaug07,0,3847428.story Visit Courant.com at http://www.courant.com |
 
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| Ruum Taedor | 11 Aug 2009, 10:30 PM Post #2 |
Keeper of Zippy
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Wow, a long a presumably full life. Interesting that he became a strong supporter of peace. Harry Patch, may he rest in peace. |
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| Deleted User | 12 Aug 2009, 02:07 AM Post #3 |
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Deleted User
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He was part of a British offensive which began on July 31, 1917, in the third battle of Ypres. It rained all but three days of the following month. Patch remembered the battlefield as "mud, mud and more mud mixed together with blood." Recalling a time when he went "over the top" into no man's land, Patch said: "All over the battlefield the wounded were lying down, English and German all asking for help. We weren't like the Good Samaritan in the Bible, we were the robbers who passed and left them. You couldn't help them." He was wounded on Sept. 22 in a shell blast which killed three members of his gun team. The offensive carried on until Nov. 6 when the British claimed victory, having advanced five miles (8 kilometers) in three months to capture what was left of the village of Passchendaele. There were nearly 600,000 dead and injured on the two sides. He returned to the battlefield for the first time in September, laying a wreath which he said was in remembrance all who served "on both side of the line." Working with historian Richard van Emden, Patch produced a book in 2007, "The Last Fighting Tommy." He donated the profits to purchase a lifeboat. Patch joined two other veterans – Henry Allingham and Bill Stone – on Nov. 11 at the national Remembrance service in London, all in wheelchairs. Allingham, 113, an air force veteran, died a week before Patch. Royal Navy veteran Stone, 108 and the last British veteran to serve in both World Wars, died Jan. 10. |
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| Sig226 | 16 Aug 2009, 07:41 PM Post #4 |
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Sergeant
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A nice touch was that 2 members each, of the Armed forces of France Belgium and Germany attended as requested by Harry in a spirit of reconciliation. |
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We are the Pilgrims, Master We shall go always a little further, It may be beyond the last blue mountain barred with snow, Across that angry or glimmering sea … (from the 'Golden Road to Samarkand' ) | |
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| Singstar90210 | 20 Aug 2009, 06:46 PM Post #5 |
Professional Wandering Songstress
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Wow. Impressive. It's really amazing that he lived to be 111. It's a bit depressing that he died on my birthday. Now that I recall something from AOL, wasn't the oldest man in the world a WWI veteran? |
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Bella: You're kidnapping me, aren't you? Alice: Sorry, he paid me. Bella: How much? Alice: The Porsche. It's exactly the one I stole in Italy. Tessa's Forums Twilight Avenue | |
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| Sig226 | 22 Aug 2009, 03:32 PM Post #6 |
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Sergeant
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Yes Henry Allingham passed away ...aged (i think 113 ) |
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We are the Pilgrims, Master We shall go always a little further, It may be beyond the last blue mountain barred with snow, Across that angry or glimmering sea … (from the 'Golden Road to Samarkand' ) | |
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10:56 PM Nov 23
