Last living combat veteran of WWI has died

[ahenkel]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/05/3208495.htm?site=sydney

The man believed to have been the last living male veteran of World War I has died in Perth aged 110.
British-born Claude Choules served in the Royal Navy during World War I and witnessed the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow.
Mr Choules was born in 1901 and signed up for the Great War at just 14 years of age.
After the war, he moved to Perth and joined the Australian Navy, working as a demolition officer at the Fremantle Harbour during World War II.
Mr Choules died in his sleep in a Perth nursing home overnight.
The only other surviving WWI veteran is believed to be Britain's Florence Green, who served with the Royal Air Force in a non-combat role and is now 110 years old.

 

[Blitzvogel]

May he rest in peace. It's too bad we have to see so many WWII veterans going now as well...........

 

[AreaCode707]

May all the soldiers of that terrible Great War rest in peace.

 

[zinfamous]

It astonishes me to still see people that experience such things in their lives managing to live so long. despite that stress, perhaps some super awesome and maybe stressful events after that, they still keep on ticking.

My GF's great uncle recently passed 1 month ago at 96--he survived WW2, ~18years in the Gulag (Norilsk--one of the notoriously worse camps--eating tree moss and horseshit to survive), occupation, and fricking "beat" stomach cancer 2 years ago.

The guy was still full of piss, vinegar, but mostly beer up until his final year.

Amazing.

 

[Blitzvogel]

I always wondered who the last surviving veteran of the US Civil War was.......*looks it up*

Wow, there were some that survived into the 1950s. It just blows me away that these people lived through the US Civil War, implementation of electrical grids, wired and wireless communication, creation of the first planes, WW1, radar/electromagnetics, WW2, jet aircraft, nuclear energy production, nuclear weapons, first computers and almost to the beginning of manned space flight. That's insane. IMO, that's the most technologically compressed 100 years of man right there. The technological progress made during that era of time is just mind boggling.

 

[AreaCode707]

I always wondered who the last surviving veteran of the US Civil War was.......*looks it up*

Wow, there were some that survived into the 1950s. It just blows me away that these people lived through the US Civil War, implementation of electrical grids, wired and wireless communication, creation of the first planes, WW1, radar/electromagnetics, WW2, jet aircraft, nuclear energy production, nuclear weapons, first computers and almost to the beginning of manned space flight. That's insane. IMO, that's the most technologically compressed 100 years of man right there. The technological progress made during that era of time is just mind boggling.

Most technologically compressed so far. Do you ever wonder what might happen in our lifetimes to rival that?

 

[the DRIZZLE]

I always wondered who the last surviving veteran of the US Civil War was.......*looks it up*

Wow, there were some that survived into the 1950s. It just blows me away that these people lived through the US Civil War, implementation of electrical grids, wired and wireless communication, creation of the first planes, WW1, radar/electromagnetics, WW2, jet aircraft, nuclear energy production, nuclear weapons, first computers and almost to the beginning of manned space flight. That's insane. IMO, that's the most technologically compressed 100 years of man right there. The technological progress made during that era of time is just mind boggling.

IMO someone who was born slightly later (say 1880 or 1900) who lived to the same age probably saw a bit more change. Television and computers barely existed in 1950.

 

[zinfamous]

IMO someone who was born slightly later (say 1880 or 1900) who lived to the same age probably saw a bit more change. Television and computers barely existed in 1950.

television sure as shit did.

I love Lucy ran from 1951-1957. to be as popular as that show was, you have to expect that TV was ubiquitous at the time. Sure, there was no real competition at the time (2 broadcast networks in the 50s, I believe), but you don't hit icon status if no one is watching.

Hell, color TV was around in the 40s (began as early as the 20s). Don't forget that Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind were 1030s.



HOWEVER, I agree with you. start with the assembly line, car, and FLIGHT--then get into and far past computing, you ahve one crazy world.

but, it all depends on the person. Some, today, live their whole lives never seeing an internet. ....much less a TV. ;\

 

[Blitzvogel]

IMO someone who was born slightly later (say 1880 or 1900) who lived to the same age probably saw a bit more change. Television and computers barely existed in 1950.

Ok, I'll say 1870 to 1970 is probably the biggest 100 years of technology, since it would include the space race and moon landings. The past 40 years of landmark achievements are mostly with computer technology I would say and marginal advancements with everything else. Pretty much the last 20 to 30 years has been about creating our digital world.

 

[dainthomas]

Most technologically compressed so far. Do you ever wonder what might happen in our lifetimes to rival that?

What would rival going from riding around on horsies to launching nukes on rockets?

Would have to be something like transporters, warp drive or maybe fusion.

 

[TwiceOver]

Certainly don't build humans like that anymore. :rose;

 

[mizzou]

I would have loved to talk to a living civil war combat vet

 

[the DRIZZLE]

television sure as shit did.

I love Lucy ran from 1951-1957. to be as popular as that show was, you have to expect that TV was ubiquitous at the time. Sure, there was no real competition at the time (2 broadcast networks in the 50s, I believe), but you don't hit icon status if no one is watching.

Hell, color TV was around in the 40s (began as early as the 20s). Don't forget that Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind were 1030s.



HOWEVER, I agree with you. start with the assembly line, car, and FLIGHT--then get into and far past computing, you ahve one crazy world.

but, it all depends on the person. Some, today, live their whole lives never seeing an internet. ....much less a TV. ;\

"In 1945, there were probably fewer than 10,000 sets in the country. This figure soared to about 6 million in 1950, and to almost 60 million by 1960."
Source: "Television." The World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book Inc., 2003: 119.

 

[Liet]

How saddening this is. It should serve as a lesson to all, that history deserves to be learned... What's even sadder is that the people who need to learn this lesson most are the ones who wouldn't care that a vet died...

 

[ShawnD1]

Hell, color TV was around in the 40s (began as early as the 20s). Don't forget that Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind were 1030s.

It existing and it being in your house are not the same thing. IMAX exists at the theatre. IMAX does not exist in my house.

I would have loved to talk to a living civil war combat vet

"we saved the blacks from the south jews and the irish but the ruskies in the west jewed us out of n**** cotton picking *****"