Harry Patch Dies In 111 Aged

The last British survivor of the World War I trenches, , has died at the age of 111.

Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army aged 18 and fought in the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British soldiers died.

He was raised in Combe Down, near Bath, and had been living at a care home in Wells, Somerset.

The sole British survivor of World War I is now seaman Claude Choules who is aged 108 and lives in Australia.

‘Great man’

Henry Allingham, who served in the Royal Navy and the RAF in WWI, died at the age of 113 a week ago.

Mr Patch’s biographer Richard Emden said he passed away at 0850 BST on Saturday morning.

Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army aged 18

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “I had the honour of meeting Harry, and I share his family’s grief at the passing of a great man.

“I know that the whole nation will unite today to honour the memory, and to take pride in the generation that fought the Great War.

“The noblest of all the generations has left us, but they will never be forgotten. We say today with still greater force – ‘We will remember them’.”

‘True gentleman’

Mr Patch served as a private at the Third Battle of Ypres – known as Passchendaele – from June to September 1917 when he was seriously injured by a shell explosion which killed three of his friends.

His friend Lesley Ross said she felt great affection towards him.

“Extremely modest, dignified gentleman, with a slightly wicked sense of humour and considerate to everybody he met. Very polite and I would sum him up as a true gentleman,” she said.

The Fletcher House care home said in a statement it extended its deepest sympathies to Mr Patch’s family and friends.

Andrew Larpent, chief executive of Somerset Care, said Mr Patch died peacefully in his bed having been unwell for some time.

“His friends and his family have been here. He just quietly slipped away at 9am this morning,” he said.

“It was how he would have wanted it, without having to be moved to hospitals but here, peacefully with his friends and carers.”

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