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The Last Tommy

Harry Patch, the last survivor of World War One to fight in the trenches, has died at the age of 111.
Mr Patch, known as the Last Tommy, fought in the battle of Passchendaele in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British troops died.

He became Britain's oldest man when another veteran of the war, Henry Allingham, died on July 18 aged 113.

Mr Patch was a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He served in the trenches as a private from June to September 1917.

Born on June 17 1898, he grew up in Combe Down, near Bath, and left school at the age of 15 to train as a plumber. He was 16 when war broke out and reached 18 as conscription was being introduced and after six months training he was sent to the front line.

Mr Patch joined two other veterans of the First World War - Mr Allingham and Bill Stone - to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in central London on Armistice Day last November. All three men have now died.

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Uploaded on Jul 25, 2009

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