Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
Talleyrand ·
May 5, 2011 at 11:19am
Today Claude Stanley Choules who served in the Royal Navy at the age of 14 during WW1, and in the Royal Australian Navy during WW2, has passed away at age 110.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in active service at age 14 as a navy crew member; our lives barely resemble those of his generation, and that of other later veterans.
We honour his courage, sacrifice and memory. Lest We Forget.
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Comments :
Dec '10
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
Tallyrand - Thanks for posting this. 14 is indeed a very young age!
I suppose if you asked anyone today to identify the white lanyard around his neck in the photo, they'd say is was his ear buds for his Ipod..
Apr '11
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
Rest in peace, sir. Thank you for sharing, Talleyrand.
Jul '10
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
Amazing.
We don't make 'em like that anymore.
R.I.P.
Aug '10
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
Good post. What a life. from the Wright brothers to 747's and the moon landings; from coal to solar; from TNT to the H-Bomb; from black and white photos to 3D color motion pictures and television; mechanical calculators to computers; horses and buggies to Ferraris; telephones to Blackberries; crude Gramophones to full stereo...
Feb '11
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
...very high mortality rates from infectious diseases to penicillin and other antibiotics. This change must have had a huge impact on worldviews, and is quite likely a factor in the decline of religiousness.
My most recent post: a manufacturing renaissance?
Jun '10
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
I'm always amazed when I hear of someone dying at such an age as 110. He was in his forties during WWII. He was 88 when the Berlin Wall fell. Yet he still had quite a ways to go. Incredible.
Jun '10
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
In decades past, a lot of 14-year-olds were doing farm work ten hours a day, and already had most of the endurance they needed for war.
Dec '10
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
This is a sad day indeed, for it marks the point at which WWI moved from living memory that can be recounted and explained in context, to something that happened in a textbook a long time ago, and from which we can learn nothing.
Thankfully WWII and onward was captured as it happened on film and later on video, so that future generations will still be able to witness it as it was, rather than how some historian chose to cast it in the text book.
110 is a ripe old age.
I had always assumed that I'd croak it young as the result of a concrete induced sudden stop (inside a race car), but since I've been out of that game for a while, I am beginning to suspect that I too may find out what it's like to live a century.
My great grandpa lived to be 98, and my grandpa (his son) is just about to turn 90 with no end in sight (he's a PITA, but healthy as an ox, though markedly slower).
If there's still a Ricochet then, I'll drop by and let you all know how it went.
Jun '10
Re: Last World War One Veteran Has Died Aged 110
*Slow Salute*
Rest In Peace