End of an Era

I was very sad to hear of the death on Saturday of Harry Patch, the last surviving World War I veteran in Britain and one of only four surviving WWI Veterans in the world (Briton Claude Choules now lives in Australia; Frank Buckles is American and Jack Babcock Canadian). Harry Patch was 111, and his death came only a week after that of fellow WWI veteran Henry Allingham, Britain's oldest ever male and the world's oldest man (113 years, 42 days) at the time of his death.

Part of the reason I was so annoyed at the numpty who called the office last November during the two minutes' silence at the Remembrance Day service was that I was actually semi-crying, having watched Harry, Henry and Bill Stone (who died on 10 January this year at the age of 108) each lay a wreath at the Cenotaph. It was very poignant, watching these three frail men so utterly determined to stand up out of their wheelchairs and lay wreaths to commemorate the lives of their friends and colleagues who died in service to their country. After Henry Allingham died a couple of weeks ago, I remember thinking how sad it would be to see just one veteran at the Remembrance Day service this year; I imagine for Harry Patch it would have been a lonely moment, so perhaps it's better that he passed away too before November.

We have lots of reasons to be thankful to these men, and to the thousands of others who fought in that conflict and all conflicts since then.

Feeling melancholy today. Normal service will be resumed next time :).