Thursday 5 May 2011

The final WWI veteran passes away

It really is the end of an era today, as the last veteran from World War I has died in Australia.

British-born Claude Choules, was 110. Having joined the Royal Navy in 1916 at 15, Claude watched the surrender of the German fleet in 1918.

Having been posted to serv near Melbourne in 1926, Mr Choules met his future wife and moved to Australia.

In spite of serving in the Navy, Mr Choules became a pacifist, and disagreed with the celebration of Australia's most important war memorial holiday, Anzac Day.

Having taken a creative writing course at the age of 80 he recorded his memoirs for his family, and those were turned into his autobiography, The Last of the Last, which was published in 2009.

It is the loss of the final fighting connection with the First World War, and the sad memories that go with it.

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