Last WWI combat veteran dies

[Jason Thompson]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13289607

The inevitable day has come. Now there are no known combat veterans of the First World War left alive. Before too long there will be no-one who saw any kind of active service in that period left, and there will be no more first hand tales from those dark days.

[Antony Cox]

This is sad news and a turning point in modern history, but having read his autobiography, I can confidently say that Claude lived an amazing life and was a thoroughly decent man. He once said that if he had his life to live over agin, he wouldn't change a thing. He also said quite recently the the Australian welfare system should be used to help young people who've either gone astray or have fallen on hard times, rather than keeping ancient people like him alive in nursing homes. That, coupled with the fact that he had become blind and almost completely deaf, would suggest that he'd been ready to go for some time.

RIP Claude - through fate alone you really were The Last of The Last.

[SiHart]

It's rather sobering news, but what a fantastic life he had.

Fortunately for us and for history, WW1 is so well documented in the voices of the men who fought it for their generation and the generations that followed, that it will never be forgotten, even if there is no-one now alive who was there.

[Paul Clement]

It's terribly sad, perhaps this would be a good time for another memorial to remember those that fought in the war.

[SiHart]

Lest we forget.

[Rob McCow]

We can only hope that their memory will live on.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Ironically we have just started Blackadder 4. Odd to think at the time it came out how veterans commented on it, and now they're gone.