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Patch is also the last surviving [[Tommy Atkins|Tommy]], since the death on 4 April 2009 of [[Netherwood Hughes]], who was still in training when the war ended. The penultimate fighting Tommy, Andrew Rigby, died on 9 June 2006, the week before Patch's 108th birthday. Additionally, Patch is one of the last of three surviving British veterans of the First World War, along with [[Henry Allingham]] and [[Claude Choules]]. He is, at the age of {{age|1898|6|17}}, the second-oldest living man in the [[United Kingdom|UK]]<ref>{{cite book|last =Patch|first =Harry|coauthors =[[Richard van Emden]]|title =The Last Fighting Tommy|publisher =[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]]|date =6 August 2007|isbn =0747591156|page =256}}</ref> and the sixth-oldest verified man in the world. Furthermore, he is one of the [[list of the verified oldest men|70 oldest men ever]].
Patch is also the last surviving [[Tommy Atkins|Tommy]], since the death on 4 April 2009 of [[Netherwood Hughes]], who was still in training when the war ended. The penultimate fighting Tommy, Andrew Rigby, died on 9 June 2006, the week before Patch's 108th birthday. Additionally, Patch is one of the last of three surviving British veterans of the First World War, along with [[Henry Allingham]] and [[Claude Choules]]. He is, at the age of {{age|1898|6|17}}, the second-oldest living man in the [[United Kingdom|UK]]<ref>{{cite book|last =Patch|first =Harry|coauthors =[[Richard van Emden]]|title =The Last Fighting Tommy|publisher =[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]]|date =6 August 2007|isbn =0747591156|page =256}}</ref> and the -oldest verified man in the world. Furthermore, he is one of the [[list of the verified oldest men|70 oldest men ever]].


==Biography==
==Biography==

Revision as of 10:52, 19 June 2009

Harry Patch
Harry Patch at age 109
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1916-1918
RankPrivate
Unit7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
Battles/warsBattle of Passchendaele (World War I)
AwardsKnight of the Order of Leopold
Officer of the Légion d'honneur
British War Medal
Victory Medal
1939-45 Defence Medal
National Service Medal
Hors de combat
Freedom of the City of Wells
Honorary Master of Arts, Bristol
Other workPlumber
Firefighter

Henry John "Harry" Patch (born 17 June 1898) is a British supercentenarian, and the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. The penultimate Western Front veteran, the 108-year-old Fernand Goux of France, who died on 9 November 2008, fought for 8 days. He came out unscathed, unlike Patch and the last Alpine Front veteran, 110-year-old Delfino Borroni of Italy, who died on 26 October 2008.

Any one of them could have been me. Millions of men came to fight in this war and I find it incredible that I am the only one left.

— Commenting on graves at a Flanders war cemetery, July 2007, [1]

Patch is also the last surviving Tommy, since the death on 4 April 2009 of Netherwood Hughes, who was still in training when the war ended. The penultimate fighting Tommy, Andrew Rigby, died on 9 June 2006, the week before Patch's 108th birthday. Additionally, Patch is one of the last of three surviving British veterans of the First World War, along with Henry Allingham and Claude Choules. He is, at the age of 126, the second-oldest living man in the UK[2] and the fifth-oldest verified man in the world. Furthermore, he is one of the 70 oldest men ever.

Biography

Patch was born in Combe Down, a village in Somerset, England. He appears in the 1901 Census as a two-year-old along with his stonemason father William, mother Elizabeth and older brothers George and William at a house called "Fonthill". Before the Great War, he worked as an apprentice plumber in Bath.[3]

In October 1916 Patch was conscripted into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, serving as an assistant gunner in a Lewis Gun section. He was a private at the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres). After the war, Patch returned to work as a plumber, during which time he spent four years working on the Wills Memorial Building in Bristol and, during the Second World War, a fireman.[4] As of September 2008 he is the United Kingdom's oldest retired firefighter.

Patch featured in the 2003 television series World War 1 in Colour, and was quoted as saying "...if any man tells you he went over the top and he wasn't scared, he's a damn liar."

In the same series, he reflected upon his lost friends and the moment when he came face to face with a German soldier. He recalled Moses descending from Mount Sinai with God's commandment, 'thou shalt not kill', and couldn't kill the German. He shot him in the shoulder which made him drop his rifle, in which he still carried on running towards his Lewis Gun. then he shot him above the knee, and in the ankle. Patch said, "I had about five seconds to make the decision. I brought him down, but I didn't kill him".

In November 2004 (at the age of 106), he met Charles Kuentz, a 108-year-old veteran who had fought on the German side at the battlefield of Passchendaele (and on the French side in World War II). Patch was quoted as saying: "I was a bit doubtful before meeting a German soldier. Herr Kuentz is a very nice gentleman however. He is all for a united Europe and peace – and so am I". Kuentz had brought along a tin of Alsatian biscuits and Patch gave him a bottle of Somerset cider in return.

In December 2004, Patch was given a present of 106 bottles of Patch's Pride Cider, which has been named after him.[5] In July 2005, Patch voiced his outrage over plans to build a motorway in northern France on the territory of cemeteries of the First World War.

On 16 December 2005, he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Bristol,[6] whose buildings he helped construct in the 1920s.[7] The University's newly-restored Wills Memorial Building was reopened by Patch on 20 February 2008. He was chosen for this honour as he was a member of the workforce that originally helped build the tower, which was opened on 9 June 1925 by King George V, an event which Patch also attended.[8]

In July 2007, marking the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Passchendaele, in which he fought, Patch revisited the site of the battle in Flanders to pay his respects to the fallen on both sides of the conflict; he was accompanied by historian Richard van Emden. On this occasion, Patch described war as the "calculated and condoned slaughter of human beings" and said that "war isn't worth one life."[9]

In August 2007, Patch's autobiography The Last Fighting Tommy was published, making him one of the oldest authors ever.[10] With the proceeds from this book, Harry decided to fund an Inshore Lifeboat for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and he attended the RNLI's Lifeboat College on 20 July 2007 to officially name the boat "The Doris and Harry".

Harry Patch was also the guest of honour at the re-opening of the "Rose and Crown" pub on 29 November 2007.[11]

In February 2008 the poet laureate of the United Kingdom Andrew Motion was commissioned by the BBC West television programme Inside Out West to write a poem in Harry Patch's honour. Entitled "The Five Acts of Harry Patch" it was first read at a special event at the Bishop's Palace in Wells where it was introduced by the Prince of Wales and received by Harry Patch.[12][13]

In July 2008 Wells City Council conferred the freedom of the city of Wells on Harry Patch.[14]

On 27 September 2008 in a private ceremony attended by just a few people, Harry Patch opened a memorial on the bank of the Steenbeek at the point where he crossed the river in 1917. The memorial reads:- “Here, at dawn, on 16 August 1917, the 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, 20th (Light) division, crossed the Steenbeek prior to their successful assault on the village on Langemarck. This stone is erected to the memory of fallen comrades, and to honour the courage, sacrifice and passing of the Great War generation. It is the gift of former Private and Lewis Gunner Harry Patch, No. 29295, C Company, 7th DCLI, the last surviving veteran to have served in the trenches of the Western Front." September 2008” Images from the ceremony: [1]

In October 2008 Patch launched the 2008 Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal in Somerset. [15] On 11 November 2008, marking the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, together with fellow veterans Henry Allingham and Bill Stone, Patch laid a commemorative wreath for the Act of Remembrance at The Cenotaph in London, escorted by Victoria Cross recipient Johnson Beharry.[16]

On 9 November 2008, the Master of the Queen's Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies attended the world premiere of his choral work paying tribute to Harry. The piece sets words by Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, and was performed at Portsmouth Cathedral by the London Mozart Players, the Portsmouth Grammar School chamber choir and the cathedral's choristers. The creation of the work was featured in a BBC West documentary called "Private Harry Patch", repeated on BBC Four on 24 November 2008.

Patch currently lives in Wells, Somerset, at the Fletcher House nursing home.

Medals

Harry Patch has eight medals.

For his service in the First World War he has the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

In 1998, as a surviving veteran of the First World War who had fought for the Allies in France and Flanders, the President of the Republic of France appointed Harry a Knight of the Légion d'honneur. The award was presented to Harry on his 101st birthday.

On 7 January 2008, Albert II, King of the Belgians, conferred upon Harry the award of Knight of the Order of Leopold. He received the award from Jean-Michel Veranneman de Watervliet, Belgium's Ambassador to the United Kingdom at a ceremony in the Ambassador's residence in London on 22 September 2008, which coincidentally was the 91st anniversary of the day he was wounded in action, and three of his closest friends killed.[17][18] [19]

At the end of the Second World War, Harry was awarded the 1939-45 Defence Medal. This medal was subsequently lost and, on 20 September 2008, at a ceremony at Bath Fire Station, Harry was presented with a replacement medal.

Harry also has two commemorative medals: the National Service Medal and the Hors de combat medal which signifies outstanding bravery of servicemen and women who have sustained wounds or injury in the line of duty.

On 9 March 2009, Harry was appointed an Officer of the Légion d'honneur by the French Ambassador at his nursing home in Somerset.[20]

Legacy

Race horse trainer and owner Michael Jarvis named a horse after Harry in 2008. Having bought the horse in October 2007 during that year's Poppy Appeal, the Newmarket trainer decided to name him after a First World War veteran. Michael's daughter suggested Harry after reading an article about him.[21] The horse fittingly won the 1.30 at Doncaster racecourse on 8 November 2008, the day before Remembrance Sunday.

See also

References

  1. ^ Nigel Blundell (31 July 2007). ""I've never got over it"". The Daily Telegraph. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Patch, Harry (6 August 2007). The Last Fighting Tommy. Bloomsbury. p. 256. ISBN 0747591156. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "WWI veteran celebrates 109 years", BBC News, 17 June 2007.
  4. ^ Patch, Harry (6 August 2007). The Last Fighting Tommy. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747591156. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Cider joy for World War I vet". BBC News Online. 22 December 2004.
  6. ^ Durie, Peter (16 December 2005). "Mr Henry John Patch - Master of Arts". University of Bristol. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  7. ^ "Honour for 107-year-old veteran". BBC Bristol. BBC. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  8. ^ "Harry Patch, 109, World War I veteran, lights up city's skyline". Press release. University of Bristol. 21 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  9. ^ "Veteran, 109, revisits World War I trench". BBC News Online. 30 July 2007.
  10. ^ Daily Telegraph Review Section, 19 August 2007, p. 28
  11. ^ Charley Morgan (30 November 2007). "Last WW1 survivor is guest of honour". Wiltshire Times & Chippenham News. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Poem honours World War I veteran aged 109". BBC News Online. 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  13. ^ "Harry Patch: A century's life shaped by four months at war". Archived from the original on 2008-03-08. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
  14. ^ "Last fighting Tommy is made Freeman of the city", Shepton Mallet Journal, 17 July 2008
  15. ^ "WWI veteran launches Poppy Appeal". BBC News Online. 29 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  16. ^ Kennedy, Maev (12 November 2008). "Last survivors of first world war salute the fallen". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  17. ^ "I am very humbled that King Albert II has honoured me", Shepton Mallet Journal, 18 June 2008
  18. ^ "Happy Birthday Harry", Shepton Mallet Journal, 19 June 2008
  19. ^ Bates, Stephen (23 September 2008), "Soldiering on at 110: Belgium honours veteran of western front", The Guardian, retrieved 2008-09-23
  20. ^ "WW1 veteran receives honour award". 09 March 2009. Retrieved 09 March 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  21. ^ "Our money's on 'Harry Patch' to win cash for Poppy Appeal". Western Daily Press. 7 November 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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