Britain's last World War I veteran laid to rest in cathedral ceremony

By Anna Tomforde Aug 6, 2009, 15:44 GMT

   London - Harry Patch, Britain's last surviving World War I veteran who said his experience in battle led him to condemn all warfare, was laid to rest in a funeral service marked by the themes of peace and reconciliation Thursday.

Patch, known as The Last Tommy after the title of his 2007 autobiography, died on July 25 in a care home in the county of Somerset, southwest England, at the age of 111.

   On Thursday, thousands lined the streets of the nearby town of Wells to watch the funeral procession ahead of a service in its famous cathedral, followed by a private burial.

   Patch had declined a state funeral before he died, and said that the only lessons to be drawn from the 'organized murder' of war were those of peace, compromise and reconciliation.

   His coffin, draped in a Union flag and carrying a single wreath of red roses, was borne by soldiers of the armed forces of Britain, Belgium, France and Germany - in line with his wishes.

   Observers said even ceremonial weapons were banned from the ceremony at his request.

   Among those attending were General Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, and Britain's Veterans Minister, Kevan Jones.

'Today marks the passing of a generation, and of a man who dedicated his final years to spreading the message of peace and reconciliation,' said Jones.

The government has said that a national memorial service for Patch will be held in Westminster Abbey in London later this year.

   Patch was conscripted as an 18-year-old in October, 1916 and served as an assistant gunner at the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, in Ypres, where some half a million men died on both sides.

Patch, a trained plumber, met his first wife, Ada, in 1918, when he was on recovery leave in Britain nursing a war injury. They were married for almost 60 years and had two sons, both of whom Patch outlived.

He married again in following Ada's death in 1976, but his second wife also died before him. His third partner, Doris, whom he met in the nursing home, died in 2007.

In 2004, Patch underlined his deep commitment to reconciliation by a meeting at the Ypres battlefield with Charles Kuentz, a German World War I veteran who fought on the opposing side.

A dying German soldier's cry of 'Mother!' convinced him of the horrors of war, Patch recorded in his book, which also tells of a pact by five British gunners 'not to kill an enemy soldier if they could help it.'

Patch, who only begun to speak publicly of his experiences when he turned 100, said it was important to remember the war dead on both sides. 'The Germans suffered the same as we did,' he said. 'It was not worth it, it was not worth one life, let alone the millions.'

   Representatives of the embassies of Belgium, France and Germany read lessons at the funeral service as well as reading extracts from his book.

The anti-war anthem Where Have all the Flowers Gone was played to show Patch's antipathy to violent conflict.

   His passing, and that of World War I veteran Henry Allingham, also in July, leaves 108-year-old Claude Choules, who lives in Perth in Australia, as the last British-born survivor of the Great War.

   In an interview with Britain's ITV station Thursday, Choules said: 'I don't feel it's a great honour to be the last veteran alive - just lucky.'