Thursday, August 13, 2009

THE LAST TOMMY 111



17 JUNE 1898
25 JULY 2009

Harry Patch was a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwalls’s Light Infantry, conscripted into military service when he was 18 years old.
He was known as “the last Tommy” because he was last British veteran of the trenches of World War I.
“Tommy” was the nickname for the common British infantryman, immortalized in Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Tommy.
Harry Patch fought at Passchendaele, the third battle at Ypres, Belgium, in 1917. 70,000 British troops died in that battle. He never spoke of his wartime experiences until he was 100 years old, believe it or not, when he was interviewed for a documentary.
At the time of his death, He was the oldest man in the Europe.


No comments:

Post a Comment