Harry Patch - Last British WW1 soldier

Britain´s last surviving World War One soldier died this summer.

During the last years of his 111, Harry Patch urged all that would listen never to forget the 9.7 million young men who perished in The Great War (1914-18).

A few years back I found an interesting DVD which had colourised and digitally remastered World War One of original news-reel and despite all the original footage watched in O´Level History classes, it brought back all the true horrors these soldiers had to endure. Devastating would be an understatement.

So traumatised by the experience, Patch would hold an annual private vigil for the 70,000 who died at the battle of Passchendaele, and even in his later years, could get flashbacks when he saw the light go on when he opened the refrigerator door – a classic symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“War isn´t worth one life,” he was famously quoted.

Shy and retiring, Harry Patch only began talking about his appalling experiences after turning 100, and his autobiography The Last Fighting Tommy was published in 2007.

Fittingly, Patch´s funeral service was held on July 27th at Wells Cathedral with full military honours.

Which brings me in nicely to the current war in Afghanistan. Two more British soldiers died on Friday bringing the death-toll of 206 British army personnel. A tiny proportion of the number of Afghan civilians innocently killed and which nobody seems to be counting.

Since Alexander the Great invaded the area in 330BC, countless invaders have come and gone. Including two failed attempts by the British! What the hell are the British doing there again? When will they admit defeat? Do they know what victory will look like? Clueless and pointless.

Don´t get me started on the Americans...


Lambs to the slaughter? RAF personnel flying out of Luton to Afghanistan