Whilst all of the valiant veterans of World War One have now left us, it’s important we continue to remember their significant sacrifice, as we do every year, on Remembrance Day.
It’s been nine years since Harry Patch, the last surviving veteran of WW1, passed away.
This Armistice Day, we take a look back at his legacy:
Who was Harry Patch?
Gaining the nickname “the Last Fighting Tommy” in his later years, Harry Patch was the last surviving combat soldier of WW1 from any country.
He was conscripted and sent to the trenches of the Western Front, where he was wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.
His memories of the war too upsetting to put into words, he didn’t talk publically about his experiences until later life.
He went on to write a bestselling book – The Last Fighting Tommy – on his harrowing experiences on the frontline.
When did the WW1 soldier pass away?
Harry Patch died peacefully at his residential home in Wells, Somerset on July 25 2009.
When he died, over 1,000 people attended his funeral.
Where is Harry Patch's memorial?
The Harry Patch memorial – a simple stone recalling one of his visits to the area – is based in the Langemark-Poelkapelle municipality in Belgium.
In July 2018, a plaque from the memorial was stolen.
A crowdfunding appeal to replace the stone reached its target of 1,500 euros in less than five hours.
The plaque was replaced in October.
Harry Patch quotes for Remembrance Day
Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims.
Politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organising nothing better than legalised mass murder.
War is organised murder and nothing else
We are two civilised nations – British and German – and what were we doing? We were in a lousy, dirty trench fighting for our lives? For what? For eighteen pence a flipping day.
If any man tells you he went into the front line and he wasn’t scared – he’s a liar. You were scared from the moment you get there. You never knew.
You’ve got a memory. You’ve got a brain about the size of a teacup. I’ve got a memory that goes back 80 or 90 years and I think that memory goes on with you when you die. And that’s my opinion. Death is not the end.
