Harry Patch has died.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Actually he died a few days ago but I only heard about it when checking out the Guardian's website. He was the last survivor of trench warfare in WWI (according to wiki there are three remaining verified military veterans from that war but whether they saw combat or not...)and the last British man alive to have been born in the 19th Century.

He regularly used to make television appearances in Britain whenever WWI was the topic; he always struck me with his humanity, his passion and his sadness. He was one of few people to have strongly struck me over a television screen. He deserves his own thread.

RIP.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes, Patch was the last one left to have fought in the trenches (Allingham died a week earlier). Grauniad obit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/25/harry-patch-obituary

[afleitch]

A sad passing, but Harry Patch was the first to admit he was lucky; lucky to make it through to live a life and to live long enough to share it with us. His memoirs and his accounts of the war are outstanding. A must read.

RIP.