SURVIVING VETERANS FROM THE GREAT WAR.

[steve140968]

Although i'm unsure of the exact number , probably around about ten now surviving soldiers of the great war . Does anyone know how many surviving veterans there are left from other countries ? Regards , Steve .

[Auimfo]

Only one in Australia and he enlisted late in the war and never left Australia's shores.

Tim L.

[CROONAERT]

The figures can never be correct (well, they will be one day, I suppose! ) for the surviving veterans from any country including the UK. Somewhere else, I took part in a similar discussion and mentioned two members of my wife's family who had both served in the last months of 1918 but had emigrated to the USA in the 1920's and practically "disappeared" from records. Neither were ever included on lists of veterans who remained (nor did they ever want to) and both only died within the last 5 or 6 years. I expect this was the case for hundreds of ex-servicemen and women in the years following 1918 from all countries.

About the most difficult to pinpoint are the servicepeople from Germany and Russia whose records and details were lost/destroyed in the ensuing politics of Europe. I expect that there are a few veterans from here still knocking about unheard of.

Dave.

[aconnolly]

New Zealand farewelled our last one about 3 years ago - Private Bright Williams of the Rifle Brigade, wounded Passchendaele from memory.

Lest we Forget

Andrew

[Yves Le Cuziat, MBE]

Good Day

In France just six are left.;;they were 8 millions to wear a uniform...no informations and statistics about how many women are left

Lest We Forget

Cheers

Yves

[Gordon Caldecott]

I`m sure there was something about this in Oct medal News? I think it said about 6 left, but can`t be sure. I know that when old smiler died, he was the last holder of the 1914/15 Star.

[frev]

Only one in Australia and he enlisted late in the war and never left Australia's shores.

Tim L.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Tim

As well as Jack Ross (AIF) - according to a report last week in the HeraldSun (on the death of Evan Allan) - we also have: "British Army WW1 veteran Syd Lucas, 105, who also did not see action, lives on the Mornington Peninsula."

Does anyone know if this is so?

Frev.

[steve140968]

Thankyou everyone . Dave , it didn't occur to me that there would be veterans about that we were unaware of . I suppose that the general feeling among servicemen/women was that of wanting to forget so it's not that supprising really . Regards , Steve .

[Essexboy68]

Steve

A recent thread here mentioned a Merchant Navy veteran in the UK who has only just surfaced.

I seem to remember that this time last year it was mentioned that there were a few British WW1 veterans (not included in the UK lists) who were still living in Australasia, & they had attended Remembrance Day services there.

Am pretty sure there are no veterans left here on the Isle of Man.

Cheers

Mark

[Harbourart]

Here is a link to an up to date list of surviving WW1 vet's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_Vet...First_World_War

Hope it helps.

[SMG65]

As the list of surviving veterans dwindles every year our human link with the Great War also dwindles.

With this in mind can anybody tell me if there has been any attempt to interview the children of the Great War?

There must be hundreds of people alive who were children during the war and their memories are very important.

I know from experience that a lot of them don't talk in detail about their childhood until actually sat down and interviewed. I have a Great Aunt who was ten when the war ended and some of the information she has given me when I have 'grilled' her has turned out to be priceless, to her the information was very trivial. For example the Uncle who was in the CEF who visited their home in Darlington when she was nine. I researched this and found he existed and was on leave from the front when she was nine, I now have his full papers. Without this information from her I wouldn't have known he existed.

There must be a lot of Great Aunts/Uncles/Grandparents out there. Could this be the next project for the IWM and something for Peter Hart to get his teeth into?

Sean

[shaymen]

Here is a link to an up to date list of surviving WW1 vet's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_Vet...First_World_War

Hope it helps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Peter

Great link - thanks for info

Glyn

[steve140968]

Thanks guys . What a great link ! There seems to be more than i thought , however if you look on the link at deaths over the last 5 years they seem to be reducing rapidly . Sean , it is very interesting what you say about surviving children . This is a rapidly ageing and reducing generation in itself . If we do not take advantage of there knowledge and experiences now the window of opportunity will be gone forever . Regards , Steve .

[Guest Simon Bull]

Here is a link to an up to date list of surviving WW1 vet's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_Vet...First_World_War

Hope it helps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Fascinating, I thought, how many Italian veterans survive. Presumably this is proof of the merits of the Mediterranean diet.

[Essexboy68]

Hello Again

What a great link, will have to bookmark it. I was especially interested to see Stephen Butcher mentioned & to read his entry, as all I had ever heard was that he was believed to be alive & had been in the RN. I take it he has taken the mantle of "youngest veteran" from Bill Stone.

Truly amazing to see the number of German veterans as previous threads had implied none were known of.

Cheers

Mark

[bob lembke]

Just saw the following in the New York Times. Is there a reason why there seems to be many more US veterans of the Great War?

Time Catching Up to World War I Veterans

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 10, 2005

Filed at 5:24 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lloyd Brown remembers Armistice Day in 1918 as few -- ever so few -- veterans can.

''For the servicemen there were lots of hugs and kisses,'' recalls Brown, of Charlotte Hall, Md., a teenage seaman aboard the battleship USS New Hampshire, in port stateside when the fighting stopped. ''We were so happy that the war was over.''

Now 104, Brown adds, ''There's not too many of us around any more.''

No one knows exactly how many of America's World War I veterans will celebrate Veterans Day, which marks the armistice of Nov. 11, 1918, that ended what then was considered the Great War. An estimated 2 million Americans served in Europe after the U.S. entered the war in 1917.

Today, the Veterans Affairs Department lists just eight veterans as receiving disability benefits or pension compensation from service in World War I. It says a few dozen other veterans of the war probably are alive, too, but the government does not keep a comprehensive list.

The Census Bureau stopped asking for data about those veterans years ago. Using a report of 65,000 alive in 1990 as a baseline, the VA estimates that no more than 50 remain, perhaps as few as 30.

World War I, fueled by intense nationalism and conflicting economic and colonial interests, began in the Balkans in 1914 and quickly spread across Europe because of military alliances. The major allied powers were Great Britain, France and Russia, and they were opposed by Germany, Austria-Hungary and a few others.

The U.S. remained neutral even as Germany threatened its shipping and as anti-German sentiment grew among Americans. Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917 at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson. ''The world must be made safe for democracy,'' Wilson said.

More than 10 million troops died before the war ended with Germany's surrender. Of the U.S. troops, more than 116,000 died and more than 200,000 were wounded.

Long-lived veterans are common among America's warriors. The last veteran to fight in the American Revolution died at age 109 in 1869, according to Defense Department statistics.

Other wars and the ages of their last veterans the year they died: the War of 1812, 105, 1905; the Indian Wars, 101, 1973; the Mexican War, 98, 1929; the Civil War, 112, 1958; and the Spanish-American War, 106, 1992.

The ranks of all World War I veterans grow thinner as the months pass. One of France's seven remaining veterans died two weeks ago, and the last Australian to serve in a war zone died a week earlier.

In the U.S., the last known American veteran wounded in the war died at 108 in January 2004. West Virginia's last veteran passed away in October 2004, and Iowa lost its only remaining Great War veteran two months later. An Alabama veteran of the war died last March at 110.

With each death, what was called ''the war to end all wars'' fades in American memory.

''It's a war that's out of mind,'' says Sean Flynn, who teaches World War I history at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D. ''The U.S. entered it late and we have no real connection to it.''

Unlike the wars that followed, World War I doesn't have the visual record so important to becoming part of American consciousness, Flynn says. Yet its impact can be linked to many problems facing the world today, including conflict in the Balkans and the rise of Arab nationalism that occurred after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

''We learn about war through television and through film,'' Flynn says. ''There's just not a lot of moving-picture footage of World War I. There's no visual image there for the public to identify with.''

Lloyd Brown spends little time thinking about the days his ship escorted convoys in North Atlantic waters threatened by German submarines. Living alone in a house in southern Maryland, just a few blocks from his daughter, Nancy, he does not believe that his war has been forgotten and feels satisfied with the attention paid to its veterans over the years.

''You can't celebrate World War I year after year after year, because there are other events taking place,'' says Brown, who watches the news each day to keep up with the world. ''You have to honor them.''

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On the Net:

Veterans Affairs Department: www.va.gov

Bob Lembke