Thousands pay tribute to last WWI veteran

Thousands of British people lined the streets today to watch the funeral procession of the last veteran of the First World War trenches.

Harry Patch, 111, who did not want a state funeral, was being honoured at a service at Wells Cathedral, in Somerset.

The retired plumber’s cortege left the Fletcher House care home in Somerset, where he lived for 13 years, amid emotional scenes.

His carers and fellow residents formed a guard of honour outside the home to watch the hearse make its way to Wells Cathedral.

Members of the Royal British Legion bearing standards formed a second guard outside the cathedral as bells sounded.

Before the service Andrew Larpent, of the Somerset Care Group, said: “Harry declined the offer of a state funeral, as he said it wasn’t really his way.

“But I think he would have been very touched that so many Somerset people have turned out to pay their respects to him. He used his fame to share a message of peace and reconciliation and it is right that this message is reflected in the service.

“Wells Cathedral is a spectacular setting to say goodbye to Harry, and it is wholly appropriate that this wonderful man is being laid to rest in his home county.

“Looking at the congregation, there were many people in uniform reflecting two types of service which featured prominently in Harry’s life – military and care. Harry’s last decade of life was made possible by the dedicated team of staff at Fletcher House who cared for him.

“Harry had so many official engagements in the 12 years he was at Fletcher House that it is hard to choose one in particular. But I will always remember Harry as a man who always looked smart, an old soldier who was very proud of his regiment and his military service.

“Whenever I saw him, he was always wearing his medals, regimental cap badge and regimental tie.”

Hundreds of well-wishers surrounded the cathedral undaunted by the grey skies to pay tribute to the veteran who died last month.

Among them was Andy Tams, who brought his six-year-old son Tolly from Staffordshire to learn about the veterans’ sacrifices.

Mr Tams said: “I have a lot of interest in the war so I felt it right to come along and pay our respects and say goodbye.

“We have just come back from Normandy for the D-Day anniversary. I wanted to keep my son’s interest alive.

“Harry Patch represented the end of an era. It is part of the UK that is now lost.”

Last week hundreds of people queued outside the cathedral for several hours to get one of the 1,050 tickets to the funeral which were allocated to the public.

Following the death of Henry Allingham at 113 years old on July 18, Mr Patch was briefly the oldest man in Europe, aged 111 at the time of his death on July 25.

Mr Patch was the last British Army veteran of the First World War and the last to have served in the trenches, serving as an assistant gunner in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, where some half a million men died on both sides.

Following the deaths of Mr Allingham and also William Stone in January, Mr Patch was also the last British veteran of the First World War residing in the UK.

Alongside Mr Patch’s family and friends, the funeral was attended by the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess of Gloucester in her capacity as president of the World War One Veterans’ Association, Veterans Minister Kevan Jones and General Sir Richard Dannatt.

Two fire engines and crews from Avon Fire and Rescue and Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue were in position on either side of the high street when the hearse passed in salute to Mr Patch’s career in the fire brigade.

At the top of the high street, Royal British Legion and Service Association flags were positioned on both sides of the road and were lowered in salute as the hearse passed.

The coffin was borne by soldiers of 1st Battalion The Rifles, with two soldiers of each of the armed forces of Belgium, France and Germany acting as pall-bearers.

Mr Patch’s great-nephew, David Tucker, carried his medals and decorations while personal tributes came from Jim Ross, a close friend of Mr Patch’s for many years.

Another close friend, Nick Fear, was selected to recite the Ode of Remembrance.

The choir of Wells Cathedral, made up of choristers from Wells Cathedral School, returned from their school holidays especially for the service.

The mourners heard an extract from Mr Patch’s book The Last Fighting Tommy, in which a dying German soldier’s cry of “mother!” convinced him there was an afterlife away from the horrors of war.

Marie-France Andre of the Belgian embassy read an extract from the book: “From that day I’ve always remembered that cry and that death is not the end.

“I remember that lad in particular. It is an image that has haunted me all my life, seared into my mind, but you saw plenty of people wounded, crying for help, but of course you daren’t stop, for one you didn’t have the medical knowledge to help them and for another you didn’t have the time; your orders were to press on and support the infantry.”

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

Lady Mary Holborow, president of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry Museum, formally received Mr Patch’s medals for the museum during the service from the charge d’affaires of the French Embassy, Jean-Claude Poimboeuf.

Dr Eckhard Wilhelm Lubkemeier, charge d’affaires of the German Embassy, read a lesson from the bible at the service.