Last Post for WWI Veterans

[Royal]

I was just skimming the BBC news site and saw this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3089723.stm

concerning the death of Jack Davis, one of the last living British WWI veterans. I know there are very few left alive in the Commonwealth, does anyone have any ideas about the USA, or for that matter Germany, Poland, Russia etc...

The article raises another point - despite the slew of history programmes on TV at the moment, are we begining to forget the sacrifice of those who seved (and in many cases died) in the 'war to end all wars'?

[Vance]

I saw a WWI veteran on the History Channel once. I don't know when it was filmed, though.

[Merik]

I thinl there may be 2 or 3 left alive in the US. Dont quote me on that though but Im pretty sure its somewhere around that number.

[Uncle Chô]

I know there are very few left alive in the Commonwealth, does anyone have any ideas about the USA, or for that matter Germany, Poland, Russia etc...
Sorry ?
:o :o :o
Don't you forget anything ???

I know this is so derogatory to mention the word FRANCE on this forum (where the french bashin is mandatory...) but did you know that France had 8,5 millions people serving in the military and ended the war with 1 360 000 dead and more than 4 230 000 wounded ??

Of course, it is a minor point...

But to honor the memory of my grandfather who served as a WWI recon pilot, lost a lot of friends and died at the age of 94, it is not.

...and to answer your question, less than a few dozen here.

[Smintjes]

Let's not forget the battlegrounds around river Yzer in Belgium. If you ever visit Europe, the Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres is a must-see.

http://www.inflandersfields.be/default2.htm

[Seiyuuki]

"In Flander's Fields"
By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[James]

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs, it is estimated that there are about 500 American WWI vets who are still with us. 76 of them are women.

[James]

There are no longer any living ANZACs who fought at Gallipoli. Last week, there were 33 BEF veterans still alive in the UK.

[Kriz]

My great grandfather fought during the whole war right at the front he died about ten years ago. Here in Belgium I think a handfull of veterans are still alive.

Btw Seiyuuki In Ieper (important city during WW1) there is also a wonderfull museum about WW 1 called In Flander's Fields.

Another great poem;

Dulce Et Decorum Est
by Wilfred Owen


Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned out backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: *Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.


*The true meaning of the poem (http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~benjamin/316kfall/316kunit4/studentprojectsspring/brody/title)

[Vlad]

My great-great grandfather served on the Russian front in one of Cossack divisions, from pretty much very begining of war till the end (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk-- mid 1917, not sure about the month). He was decorated with The Order of St. George, all 4 classes, no sword though. I am not sure what happend to all of his medals, most likely hidden or destroyed to prevent any persecutions from Communists during pre-WWII, or post for matter, purges.