Last World War I veteran, in the whole world, dies

The end of an era.

Story

Last known WWI veteran Florence Green dies at 110

Florence Green never saw the front line. Her war was spent serving food, not dodging bullets.

But Green, who has died at age 110, was the last known surviving veteran of World War I. She was serving with the Women's Royal Air Force as a waitress at an air base in eastern England when the guns fell silent on Nov. 11, 1918.

It was not until 2010 that she was officially recognized as a veteran after a researcher found her service record in Britain's National Archives.

Green died Saturday at the Briar House Care Home in King's Lynn, eastern England, two weeks before her 111th birthday, the home said.

Retired Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye, director-general of the RAF Museum, said it was fitting that the last survivor of the first global war was someone who had served on the home front.

"In a way, that the last veteran should be a lady and someone who served on the home front is something that reminds me that warfare is not confined to the trenches," Dye said.

"It reminds us of the Great War, and all warfare since then has been something that involved everyone. It's a collective experience ... Sadly, whether you are in New York, in London, or in Kandahar, warfare touches all of our lives."

She was born Florence Beatrice Patterson in London on Feb. 19, 1901, and joined the newly formed Women's Royal Air Force in September 1918 at the age of 17.

The service trained women to work as mechanics, drivers and in other jobs to free men for front-line duty. Green went to work as a steward in the officers' mess, first at the Narborough airdrome and then at RAF Marham in eastern England, and was serving there when the war ended.

(more at link)

It's also nice to see women, and the home front, get more recognition.

 

Too bad.

 

Every living thing dies. Not sure why this should be news at all.

 

I agree Jello. I would never have known if not for this thread.

 

well i agree with dani. the lines have been drawn. this would be an ironic way for world war 3 to start.

 

last world war i, a terrible, pointless war in which many people died, but not this man, who died many, many years later, veteran, which means a person that fought in a war, which i think most of you already know, in the whole world, apart from antarctica probably, since nobody really lives there apart from some penguins, who probably remained neutral during the war, since there were no lasers back then, and even if there were, the apparatus to create them would not have been small enough for a penguin to comfortably wear, dies.

 

Sad day.

I wonder if future generations will even comprehend the song "Willie McBride."
Will the words ever be "relevant" to anyone ever again.

 

It was a woman. And she served as an auxillary. Anyway, I agree with ASO.

 

lol, I would hope so.

 

This

 

Of course the last WWI vet had to die sometime, that's not news.

What's news, and should have been bigger news, is that it just happened. It should be better acknowledged.

 

There is some grainy footage from around the time of the first world war where there were folks still living that fought in the American Civil War. They had reunions of both the North and South and they got together and danced and partied. They exchanged stories and the like.

Before too much longer in our lifetimes we will lose the WW2 veterans. At least in the 20th century we will always have recorded images to look back upon to pass down to future generations.

Nobody knows how Lincoln actually 'sounded' giving the Gettysburg Address do they? Something to think about.

 

That's just a theory.

 

By all accounts, Lincoln had a high-pitched, reedy voice (nothing like the deep, statesmany voice that actors always give him). His beard acted as a slight mute/muffle.

 

did you even read the opening post? it was a woman who died...

 

did you read jabba-wocky's post? he already pointed that out. and you guys both read duende's post about laser carrying penguins, and somehow felt you had to point out that he got the gender wrong? for shame.

 

hey you idiot, it was a woman, not a man!!! get it right, suckjob!!!!

 

Oh, sorry Ross, I forgot that lobsters might not die

 

Latinos are impervious to death, apparently.

 

Whaaat. Why didn't anyone tell my abuelo.

 

Yeah, my great grandma Vigil wasn't notified either.

 

Wow, this really highlights the importance of getting knowledge about the past before it slips away. We need to take in all that these witnesses have to tell us so we can make sure the mistakes made in their time are not repeated in the future.