R.I.P., Henry Allingham/Harry Patch

[Ms T]

One of the last links to WW1 is now broken and Henry has been reunited with those who he never forgot. A true hero, Rest In Eternal Peace.

[Keef]

Quite right too. I also respect the fact he never dined out on it, and wouldn't even attend any reunions or discuss the war, until 2005! Born when queen victoria reigned, and died when america had a black president. He saw a lot of change. He was already an old man when they landed on the moon, and JFK was shot, what an innings that is! RIP.

[bigbadwolf]

I've always wondered what it must be like to live through a age of such rapid change and advances in technology. It must of been quite overwhelming in some respects for a man born in the Victorian era to have witnessed a man on the moon and leaps in global communication.

He attributed his long life to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women-and a good sense of humour". I think if I were to have had the honour of meeting him we would've got on very well indeed.

R.I.P Henry.

[woofmarkthedog]

God rest his soul.

I suggest a tipple to him.

Tonight be up standing at 6.00pm "To Henry Allingham"

We will drink a dram.

W**F

[Marmora Man]

I'll drink a "tot" in his memory - he was a naval man, joining the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915, subsequently transferring to the RAF when it was invented.

A fascinating life as BBW said.

[Santerme]

Rest in peace Sir.

In 1917 he was posted to the Western Front where the RNAS was tasked with supporting squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps which was operating sorties over the battlefields of the Somme.

He found himself in the trenches where he was ordered to neutralise the booby trapped bombs left behind by the retreating German soldiers.

On the Western Front

He never forgot the conditions on the ground. He later recalled being up to his armpits in water with the smell of mud and rotting flesh all around him............................

In World War Two he worked on De-gaussing ships to protect them from magnetic mines.

Remarkable innings.

[macroban]

Ad astra.

[Michael Palaeologus]

He experienced both the Battle of Jutland and the Battle of the Somme.

Rest in Peace Henry. A great man and a great representative of a greater generation.

[Sherwick]

Fine innings, Sir.

Now enjoy your retirement in the Great Pavilion in the sky.

[Ms T]

And the very final link to the chain is gone forever, confined to the History books. Rest in peace, Harry Patch.

[macroban]

Good man.

[dulwichmum]

Indeed - a great man.

The military service carried out by Harry Patch was worth so much more than any degree or doctorate, awards that are dished out after a few years of late mornings, late nights, wild living and excessive drinking...

I thought that it was incredibly patronizing of Bristol University to bestow an honorary degree on Harry Patch, and in the TV footage of the ceremony, he appeared to be surrounded by a gaggle of condescending academics with rictus grins.

[immaterial]

Incredible to have lived for so many years and seen so many societal changes, but, lest we forget, Harry held that:

"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".(The Last Fighting Tommy)

In the Guardian obit. we also find:

Indeed, after 11 November 1918 he was on a firing range with other Tommies when a jobsworth officer so riled them that there was a stand-off between his revolver and their rifles: "had he not backed down, he would have been shot, there's no doubt about it". A brigadier, alert to the officer's attitude, vindicated them, but for a moment it had looked a close call.

And:

"War is organised murder," he insisted, "and nothing else."

Farewell, Harry Patch, farewell.

[Santerme]

Preface

This book is not about heroes. English Poetry is not yet fit to speak

of them. Nor is it about deeds or lands, nor anything about glory, honour,

dominion or power,

except War.

Above all, this book is not concerned with Poetry.

The subject of it is War, and the pity of War.

The Poetry is in the pity.

Yet these elegies are not to this generation,

This is in no sense consolatory.

They may be to the next.

All the poet can do to-day is to warn.

That is why the true Poets must be truthful.

If I thought the letter of this book would last,

I might have used proper names; but if the spirit of it survives Prussia, --

my ambition and those names will be content; for they will have

achieved themselves fresher fields than Flanders.

Wilfred Owen, the Preface to his War Poetry.

RIP Harry, stand down now.

Good job Sir!

[bigbadwolf]

R.I.P Harry.

You were the last of a generation that mine could still learn a great deal from.

Henry Allingham and Harry Patch and all the brave men that served on the western front should never be forgotten, nor should their tenacity and conviction be consigned to the media hungry opportunist's that DM so aptly described.

Braver men than I'll ever be.

['bout now]

Hear hear, both men the definition of bravery and dignity.

[ratty]

I bow to both these gentle men and to all those from both sides sent to their death in the wars of the 20th century. God Bless them. I am sure their reward in heaven will be rich indeed.

RIP