Last WWI Combat Veteran Passes Away

[Mauser98k]

(AP)
SYDNEY - Claude Stanley Choules, the last known combat veteran of World War I, died Thursday at a nursing home in the Western Australia city of Perth, his family said. He was 110.

Beloved for his wry sense of humor and humble nature, the British-born Choules — nicknamed "Chuckles" by his comrades in the Australian Navy — never liked to fuss over his achievements, which included a 41-year military career and the publication of his first book at the age of 108.

"We all loved him," his 84-year-old daughter Daphne Edinger told The Associated Press. "It's going to be sad to think of him not being here any longer, but that's the way things go."



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/04/501364/main20059904.shtml#ixzz1LRrOBGwK


RIP

 

[yoicham]

Wow, to survive something like World War I and live to be 110. That is quite the accomplishment.

 

[nightwanker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_last_surviving_World_War_I_veterans_by_country

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_veterans_of_World_War_I

 

[Ulysses31]

Additional article

He ended up serving at sea for 40 years, but had little time for the wars that would write him into the history books. They were ‘useless’ and ‘destructive’, he said. He became a pacifist in later life. :clap:

Last-known World War I combat veteran Claude 'Chuckles' Choules dies, aged 110


* British-born Claude Choules passed away in Perth nursing home
* He disposed of first mine to wash ashore in Australia during the war
* Watched 1918 surrender of the German High Seas Fleet from HMS Revenge
* Water-loving Navy man only stopped his daily swim 10 years ago
* Choules, nicknamed Chuckles, wrote his first book aged 108

Left: On active service: Mr Choules pictured in 1918, when he was 17
Right: 'I've had the luckiest life in the world' Claude Choules pictured in 2009

He lied about his age to get into the Royal Navy when he was only 14.

By the time death finally caught up with Claude Choules yesterday he had reached 110 and was the last survivor of 70million men who fought in the Great War.

British-born Mr Choules, nicknamed ‘Chuckles’, died peacefully in a Western Australia nursing home. He had lived in the country since the 1920s.

The last three First World War veterans living in Britain – Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch – all died in 2009.

‘His death marks a significant chapter in world history,’ said Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

‘Mr Choules and his generation made a sacrifice for our freedom and liberty that we will never forget.’

Born in Wyre Piddle, near Pershore, Worcester, in March 1901, Mr Choules fooled enlisting officers into letting him joined the Royal Navy by telling them he was several years older than his real age.

In 1917 he was serving on the battleship Revenge when he watched the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet.

After the war ended he spent six months guarding 74 vessels of the interned German fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys.

In June 1919, the German commander decided to scuttle his ships rather than allow them to be handed over to the Royal Navy.

Last of the last: World War I combat veteran Claude Choules has passed away at the Gracewood Retirement Village, in Salter Point, Perth, Australia

Early days: Choules poses for a photo as a young sailor at HMAS Cerberus near Melbourne, Australia, in 1917, and was around 18 years into his Naval career when the photo on the right was taken in 1936

Scuttled: The German battleship Bayern sinking at Scapa Flow in 1919

Choules, pictured here with his 80-year-old daughter Anne Pow, put his longevity down to the love of his family

Mr Choules recalled: ‘I was on board Revenge, preparing for torpedo training. We had the torpedo in the tube all ready to fire and the ship was on the firing course, and suddenly the captain’s “cease fire” gong rang.

‘Everybody panicked . . . we knew there was a panic on somewhere. We thought it must be in Scapa Flow where the Germans were.

‘As we went through the entrance we could see the German ships. Some of them had sunk and others were going over and sinking. We could see ships going all over the place.’

Moment in history: The Royal Navy battleship HMS Revenge, from which sailor Claude Stanley Choules watched the 1918 surrender of the German High Seas Fleet

Celebration: Choules with family and members of the Royal Australian Navy during his 108th birthday party

Everyone on board his ship was grateful.

‘We said, “We’ve been here for nearly six months waiting for our war service leave, now the b*****ds are gone we can all go home”.’ Six years later he moved to Australia as an instructor on loan from the Royal Navy but never returned, transferring instead to the Royal Australian Navy.

He met his wife, Ethel, on the voyage to Australia.

He remembered: ‘I saw two girls leaning over the rail and looking at the White Cliffs of Dover, and I was in uniform of course.

‘I sidled up to these two girls and one of them walked away and I walked after her – and that was my wife.’ Mrs Choules died three years ago, aged 98.

During the Second World War, as the acting torpedo officer in Fremantle, south of Perth, Mr Choules disposed of the first German mine to wash up in Australia.

He ended up serving at sea for 40 years, but had little time for the wars that would write him into the history books. They were ‘useless’ and ‘destructive’, he said. He became a pacifist in later life.

Despite the world wanting to know more about his life in the British and Australian navies as the decades rolled by and he remained a stoic survivor, he insisted he didn’t care for records.

‘He just saw it as a job,’ said his son Adrian when his father celebrated his 110th birthday two months ago.

His daughter Anne Pow explained that her father was focused on his family rather than war stories.

‘The sort of questions he’s always asked about war, he’s not so interested in any more,’ said Mrs Pow. The humour that led fellow sailors to nickname him Chuckles followed him through the years. When asked what he put his long life down to, he replied: ‘I just keep breathing.’

After he retired, the sea remained around him. He was a crayfish fisherman for 20 years.

Asked once if he had any regrets, he replied: ‘I’ve had the luckiest life in the world, I reckon. If I had my time over again, I’d do exactly what I did do.’

Beliefs: In his latter years Choules, pictured left with his wife Ethel in 1936, became anti-war and refused to march in parades for Anzac Day

Happy family: Choules with his grand daughter, Jennifer Hesford, left, and his daughter, Anne Pow



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...an-dies-Australia-aged-110.html#ixzz1LW72edqX

 

[vodkazvictim]

In a way this is a good thing: Now no human no longer has to live with the horrors of that atrocious war.
May such a ridiculous farce as that war never be repeated.

Ulysses, as ever, thanks for the detailed news article.

 

[Trident1]

RiP sir.

 

[Johan]

RIP to a man who fought in both world wars.

 

[bahodeme]

Makes me wonder if I or any one of us would have the forethought to lie about their age & enlist at 14 or 15 as Mr. Choules and others of his generation did.

 

[meesterperfect]

so its official?
he was the last one?

 

[vodkazvictim]

Makes me wonder if I or any one of us would have the forethought to lie about their age & enlist at 14 or 15 as Mr. Choules and others of his generation did.

Do you believe it's worth your life to preserve the status quo in your country? 'cos I damn well wouldn't risk even a nasty chill to preserve the status quo in mine.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being disrespectfull to the WW1 veteran.

 

[EwaSonnetIsGod]

That has to be a weird feeling knowing that of all the people that fought in that war...and there were millions...you are the last one still alive.

 

[bahodeme]

Do you believe it's worth your life to preserve the status quo in your country? 'cos I damn well wouldn't risk even a nasty chill to preserve the status quo in mine.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being disrespectfull to the WW1 veteran.

Well I guess since I enlisted at 17 (Delayed Entry Program) the short answer would be yes. My main point was when I was 14 my main thoughts were cartoons, the cute girl(s) in my class, etc. Not going to the military & fighting.
I would like to know their thoughts & emotions at that time. Unless its in the book he wrote or a journal he had, I guess we won't know.

 

[meesterperfect]

That has to be a weird feeling knowing that of all the people that fought in that war...and there were millions...you are the last one still alive.

yeah true.

It feels weird for me even knowing that theyre all gone.

 

[STDiva]

Makes me wonder if I or any one of us would have the forethought to lie about their age & enlist at 14 or 15 as Mr. Choules and others of his generation did.

I think 14 year olds enlisting back then has more to do with the times than the individual. Boys were raised to be men back then. There was a responsibility engrained into their skulls their entire life. They wanted to provide and protect. Now, the military is something high school drop outs do because they've wasted every other opportunity they had (no offense to anybody who joined for the right reasons.) and kids are too busy with iPods, jersey shore and video games to risk their lives defending their country. Kids are raised to be pussies these days. It's sad.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

110? Wow. I wonder if he'd been praying for death for the last twenty or thirty years. I mean, the quality of life is something that just goes right out the window past eighty. Longevity is overrated. Useless genitals; fading eyesight; incontinence; the stamina of a newborn kitten; and outliving pretty much everyone you know. No thanks.

 

[busenbust]

RIP Sir/ makes one feel really humble :o

 

[vodkazvictim]

Well I guess since I enlisted at 17 (Delayed Entry Program) the short answer would be yes. My main point was when I was 14 my main thoughts were cartoons, the cute girl(s) in my class, etc. Not going to the military & fighting.
I would like to know their thoughts & emotions at that time. Unless its in the book he wrote or a journal he had, I guess we won't know.

May I ask your age and what inspired you to enlist? Just out of curiosity.
To be honest, I don't consider my country worth fighting for. Here in England we're not a poor country, but our government places a greater priority on ensuring corporations stay rich than providing heating for the elderly who have little money through the winter. I have no interest in defending a society like the one I live in.

yeah true.

It feels weird for me even knowing that theyre all gone.

What is with your avatar?

I think 14 year olds enlisting back then has more to do with the times than the individual. Boys were raised to be men back then. There was a responsibility engrained into their skulls their entire life. They wanted to provide and protect. Now, the military is something high school drop outs do because they've wasted every other opportunity they had (no offense to anybody who joined for the right reasons.) and kids are too busy with iPods, jersey shore and video games to risk their lives defending their country. Kids are raised to be pussies these days. It's sad.

I think you have a good point about standards being higher back then and about the quality of (many) recruits today (while our armies still get some good recruits, there are lots of bloody idiots in them). We should be carefull not to let prisoners into our armies; the Russkis have regretted it ever since they did it in WW2. That's a 60-odd year mistake!

Now here's a video showing the professionalism, courage, honour and duty of (some) the kids who join up nowadays:

 

[bahodeme]

Well Vodka, there were several reasons. I have/had 4 uncles that were in the military that I looked up to, so I wanted to follw their footsteps. In my high school, it had an air & space program that I was in. My last year in the program I spent half of the school day at one of the Air Force Bases and worked on jet engines for The Air National Guard. The teachers were in the Air National Guard & set up the program with their commanding officers. Some students worked on airframes, others worked in electronics. My "initiation" was I had to clean & prep one of the engines for repairs that was involved in a bird strike (starlings). I assisted in moving the engines from the repair shop to the test shop,etc. During this time I also got my private pilot license, so the logical choice was The Air Force.
I went to basic training 4th Oct 84. After I completed Basics, I found out at that time the needs of the Air Force trumps what you applied for. I applied for loadmaster, jet engine mech. But because I shot a little too well, I ended up being Security Police for my time that I was in. This was during the Cold War, so when you asked about preserving my way of life and dying for it, there was a chanceat that time it could have happened. Oh and by the way, it was a public high school that had this program. The school also had a marine science and an engineering program. So the public school system here wasn't always this bad. It was just that in that time period the parents, teachers, and members of the school system actually gave a damn. I am of the 1966 vintage. If I omitted any answers V V, let me know.

 

[vodkazvictim]

Well Vodka, there were several reasons. I have/had 4 uncles that were in the military that I looked up to, so I wanted to follw their footsteps. In my high school, it had an air & space program that I was in. My last year in the program I spent half of the school day at one of the Air Force Bases and worked on jet engines for The Air National Guard. The teachers were in the Air National Guard & set up the program with their commanding officers. Some students worked on airframes, others worked in electronics. My "initiation" was I had to clean & prep one of the engines for repairs that was involved in a bird strike (starlings). I assisted in moving the engines from the repair shop to the test shop,etc. During this time I also got my private pilot license, so the logical choice was The Air Force.
I went to basic training 4th Oct 84. After I completed Basics, I found out at that time the needs of the Air Force trumps what you applied for. I applied for loadmaster, jet engine mech. But because I shot a little to well, I ended up being Security Police for my time that I was in. This was during the Cold War, so when you asked about preserving my way of life and dying for it, there was a chanceat that time it could have happened. Oh and by the way, it was a public high school that had this program. The school also had a marine science and an engineering program. So the public school system here wasn't always this bad. It was just that in that time period the parents, teachers, and members of the school system actually gave a damn. I am of the 1966 vintage. If I omitted any answers V V, let me know.

NICE! Did you get to work on an F5 Freedom fighter or T38 Talon?
So you're a qualified pilot eh? How I envy you. I always wanted to join the air force and be a pilot as a kid, but I just can't do maths
Then, as I grew to joining age, I watched the British army get sent to war with piss poor rifles, body armour and the wrong camoflage. I recognised that war is a racket and I wanted no part of it.

You realise that you went into basic training a mere year after I was born?
It's a shame to see the degeneration of much of america, especially her schooling systems. I wish I could say things were good here, but frankly, I'd emigrate to Switzerland or Canada, to give just two examples, in a heartbeat.
Thanks for answering that... I try to be diplomatic asking military men questions these days, what with tall the rumours you hear about Islamic militants mixed in with the general population, so don't worry about omitting anything you don't wanna answer.

 

[Facetious]

He ended up serving at sea for 40 years, but had little time for the wars that would write him into the history books. They were ‘useless’ and ‘destructive’, he said. He became a pacifist in later life. ø":clap:''ø

Bad, Uly!
Bad, bad, BAD! :nono:

While I'm at it . . RIP Keith Moon & John Entwistle


''Useless'' and ''destructive''? What about self preservation?
Your grandpa could have effectively been made into a bar of soap or perhaps a lamp shade had he and his fellow countrymen fostered a pacifist attitude toward those who had set out to destroy them.


RIP Sir Choules :hatsoff: