Harry Patch
Born June 17,
1898
Place of birth Flag of England Combe Down, Somerset
Allegiance Flag of the United Kingdom UK
Service/branch British Army
Rank Private
Unit Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
Battles/wars Battle of Passchendaele (World War I)
Awards L�gion d'honneur
British War Medal and Victory Medal
National Service Medal
Hors de combat
Click on the photo of Harry to read his account of life in the trenches
HARRY PATCH NEVER SPOKE ABOUT THE WAR UNTIL HE WAS 100 YEARS OLD!
Henry John Patch (born June 17, 1898 in Combe Down, a village in Somerset, England) is, at the age of 109 years, 235 days, the second-oldest living man in the UK[1] and one of the last three surviving British veterans of the First World War still living in the country. He is, as of 2008, the last surviving Tommy to have served on the Western Front. "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." —On graves at a Flanders war cemetery, July 2007, [2]Before the Great War, he worked as an apprentice plumber in Bath.[3]During the war, Patch was conscripted into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, serving as an assistant gunner in a Lewis Gun squad. 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]Patch featured in the 2003 television series World War I 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 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 m given a present of 106 bottles of Patch's Pride Cider which has been named after him.[5]In July 2005, Harry Patch voiced his outrage over plans to build a motorway in northern France on the territory of cemeteries of the First World War.On December 16, 2005, he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Bristol, whose buildings he helped construct in the 1920s.He currently lives in Wells, Somerset, at the Fletcher House nursing home.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."[6]In August 2007, Patch's autobiography The Last Fighting Tommy was published, making him one of the oldest authors ever.[7]Harry Patch was also the guest of honour at a the Rose and Crown pub re-opening on November 29, 2007.