Oldest (British) WWI veteran dies aged 113

Oldest (British) WWI veteran dies aged 113

news.bbc.co.uk

Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and one of the last surviving World War I servicemen, has died at the age of 113, his care home has said.

Mr Allingham served with the Royal Naval Air Service in WWI, later transferring to the Royal Air Force at the time of its creation.

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RIP. The man had a good innings but it is always sad to see someone who has lived through so much go on their final voyage. i believe we in the UK only have one survivor of the great war left (Harry Patch?) and then this whole generation will have been taken from us. As an aviator from near the beginning he must have been amazed at the progress that has been made from the early machines that were flimsy and underpowered to what we have today where computers do half the job for you.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

RIP to him,

i just hope that someone had a chance to set and let him talk, the world would/will have done well to let that man talk.

reply to post by solidshot


That has always led me to the path of bewilderment.

Seeing what has happened in the last 100 years, watching it go by, wow it must of been amazing.

It must of hurt ridiculously bad for him to know fully that he wouldn't live to see the end result of the begginnings now!

We will of course take it for granted, my generation, but I do admire anyone (almost) who has lived that long with a sound mind presumably.

The things they've watched come and go, people have lived done a bad thing, been in prison and died, and he's outlived their birth and death.

Countries have been overthrown as he's watched the beginning and end. A supposed Antichrist has been defeated by his due part.

I could go on, but i'm not writing a book here or anything, I never knew the man existed before now!

He deserves a state funeral, true hero.

A very tragic day

reply to post by wx4caster


There I go, thinking inside the box, assuming things about him, without even admiring the fact that I would love to hear what he had to say.

The world would be good to have a listen to this mans thoughts, (assuming dementia, schizophrenia, alzheimers) hasnt got to him! Then it may be good either way!

I heard when the oldest veteren died it was a sign of the antichrist, probaly a load of rubbish though.

Very sad.

My utmost respects go out to the family of Henry Allingham.

I was lucky enough to be in the company of a couple of men with Henry's experience up at the Cenotaph in London once. No matter how much you have done in life, to say you feel humbled when you meet these heroes is an understatement.

I hope he is given the full works at his funeral.

When i look around at the country now, i almost feel embarrassed for the men and women that went through what they did.

CX.


[edit on 18/7/09 by CX]

I remember seeing Mr Allingham laying the reef on memorial day and this Man is what Britain still should be about. He had courage, determination, humor and respect althroughout his life.
He was alive when the Wright Brothers first flew (no B2a bombers back then, just a wooden craft) aswell as living through both world wars, the Titanic sinking, Man landing on the Moon *supposedly* and the Cold War era.
Im only 25 and if I live to get even up to 80 then I'll have Henry to look back upon and remember all the things He'd been through up until 113.

RIP Henry Allingham.


I believe it was Henry or it may have been Harry Patch who a few years ago went to France and had dinner with the oldest WW1 German veteran. It was a moving moment, tears could be seen in their eyes, and I think the German said "Oh why did we have to have a war!" in the most saddest voice possible.



In a way, it's scary that the Generations that lived through WW1 and WW2 will soon all be gone. I tend to think that with their testaments of their experiences, what they have seen, what they experienced is a warning to us all, and to anyone who willingly habours for war.



People like my Grandmother for instance. During WW2, she stayed in London during the Blitz as the majority of Londoners did, and watched on as the Luftwaffe waged a campaign to raze London to the ground. She tells of the time when she was in the cinema with her friends watching a film, and the film was interrupted by the Cinema's manager who informed the audience that "That man is here again, those who want to go the shelters, do so, those who want to stay can stay".


'That Man' was Hitler and his Luftwaffe.


They stayed in the Cinema because they believed "if your name is on it (the bomb) it does not matter where you are."


My Grandmother, sixty-three years later, wrote to a national newspaper to protest against The Iraq War because she did not want people to go through what she went through in the Blitz, the bombings, the loss of relatives and friends.



I had a Grandfather who fought in the air defence of Coventry, part of a unit firing Anti-Aircraft Artillery at so many Luftwaffe flying over head that the Ack-Acks ran out of ammo, at which point they 'fired' without ammo, so that they would keep their morale up, a symbolic gesture of defiance.


I had a Great-Uncle who fought at North Africa, saw El Alamein, another Great-Uncle who was in the fire brigade tackling the Blitz fires of London, and another Great-Uncle who was in the Merchant Navy.


Only my Merchant Navy Uncle and my Grandmother remain.


Age will claim them, and dementia is attempting to conquer my Grandmother, but they both resist bravely.


They were on this earth when the Mussolini rose to power in Italy and Hitler rose to power in Germany and waged war on Europe.

They were on this earth when The Miracle of Dunkirk occured, when The Battle of Britain raged, when The Desert Rats went up against The Afrika Corps across the parched hot dunes of Africa, and when the bloodiest battle in history raged at Stalingrad as The Red Army and The German Army fought to the death, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Habour, when, the German Army marched into France, the low countries and the majority of Europe, in a time of Holocaust, in a time when Normandy was stormed, when Berlin fell, when Nagasaki and Hiroshima were atom bombed.


They lived in a time, a time we can only imagine of and see in documentaries and films and read about.


They watched over our Parents, and then watched over us, they had seen a world war and were our Guardians, knowing the signs to look out for any Third World War.


This Golden Generation, when they are gone, will not be there anymore, to warn us of repeating the mistakes of the past, or warn us that history is repeating itself. They will be gone, having "done their bit"


We live in a time now of having leaders and politicians of a generation who have no experience of a world war and how horrific it is, and have not concern but ambition in their hearts.


Does that not worry you a little?


It does me.



I knew an old veteran of WW1 and WW2 years ago who has sadly since passed on some years ago. I asked him one afternoon when he was still alive did he think WW2 could happen again, based on any signs he saw today that he also saw before WW2.


He was quiet for a long time, then looking into my eyes he said, his face serious:


"China, they are the ones to watch."



They are the Golden Generation, our warners, our reminders of times that must not be repeated. When the last witness of WW2 dies is when we lose something and where the world gets more dangerous.

I think we too (the US) have lost our last WWI veteran, it's a good thing that we now have groups that go around and interview these men (and women in the case of WWII and more recent conflicts) and record their stories and interview them. It won't be all that long before we are down to the last WWII veteran

Yeah, there are not many of the "old guard" left anymore.

It really is a shame that the passing of these noble individuals does not seem to be worthy of much coverage in the MSM.

On June 17 last month, American war hero Darrell "Shifty" Powers a member of 101st Airborne's "Easy Company" popularized on HBO's hit series "Band of Brothers" passed with very little fanfare.

I heard no mention of his passing until yesterday.

The inordinate amount of time the MSM spends memorializing the passing of sports figures, scumbags and freaks from the entertainment world is deplorable.

It's just a sign of the times I suppose.....

Rest in Peace, Henry Allingham