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| Britain's last male WWI Veteran. |
Claude Choules, the last known surviving combat veteran of World War One, has died in an Australian nursing home two months after celebrating his 110th birthday.
His family says Choules died in his sleep early Thursday morning in the western city of Perth.
The British-born Choules joined the Royal Navy at the age of 14, a year after the outbreak of World War One. He witnessed the surrender of the German Imperial Navy in 1918 and the scuttling of the German naval fleet off the waters of Scotland the following year.
He was assigned to the Royal Australian Navy in 1926, and served as a chief demolition officer during World War Two. He searched Fremantle Harbor for enemy mines and wired merchant ships to be destroyed in the event of an invasion by Japanese forces.
After retiring from the RAN in 1956, Choules settled down near Perth with his wife Ethel, whom he met during his voyage to Australia. She died in 2003. He recounted his wartime experiences in his autobiography, “The Last of the Last,” which he published at the age of 108.
The last known American World War One veteran, Frank Buckles, passed away in February at the age of 110. Another Briton, Florence Green, served during the war in a non-combat role in the Royal Air Force.
From John Connell:
ReplyDeleteAsked as to his secret for a long life, he replied "Keep breathing".