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And then there were none; Last British WW1 veteran dies
Topic Started: Jul 25 2009, 12:06 PM (182 Views)
John D'Oh
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MAMIL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8168691.stm

There's only three left in the world - one in each of Canada, Australia and the US.

When I was a kid, I still felt connected in a way to this war via my grandparents and other aging relatives. Now my parents are the same age. Strangely enough, I feel a sense of loss every time I hear that one of these last veterans dies.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
Sad. Then again, he lived about 93 years longer than a lot of his peers.
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
Here's an article about Frank Buckles, our sole survivor. He is 108 now, I believe. He was in town, at the *fantastic* new National WWI Memorial in our city (which is well worth traveling to see) for the annual Memorial Day celebration...he was interviewed...strong, sweet, articulate...a really dreamy guy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302433.html
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AndyD
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Senior Carp
Quote:
 
When I was a kid, I still felt connected in a way to this war via my grandparents and other aging relatives. Now my parents are the same age. Strangely enough, I feel a sense of loss every time I hear that one of these last veterans dies.


Me too. This was given quite some time on the news here. They were saying he was the last man alive who had gone 'over the top'. With the greatest respect to the surviving three veterans, it seems somehow now WW1 is truly a part of history.



Every morning the soul is once again as good as new, and again one offers it to one's brothers & sisters in life.

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