T8HANTS Posted 15 November , 2004 Share Posted 15 November , 2004 Hi All I think this sums up the last few days..........Gareth _ww1_g__Old_Vets_from_opposit_sides_meet_at_Passchendaele_2004_.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie Posted 15 November , 2004 Share Posted 15 November , 2004 Excellent thanks mate. Robbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LauraEJT Posted 15 November , 2004 Share Posted 15 November , 2004 An amazing piece-thank you. From the Great Thoughts of Alfred Jordan,Driver,ASC(1914-19)-who never really talked about it-"We had a lot in common with Jerry" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 15 November , 2004 Share Posted 15 November , 2004 Hi All I think this sums up the last few days..........Gareth Very interesting but is Charles Kuentz really the last survivor of the German Army of WW1? What became of the rest? I know that they would be very old, but even so.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john w. Posted 15 November , 2004 Share Posted 15 November , 2004 stunning John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LauraEJT Posted 15 November , 2004 Share Posted 15 November , 2004 It does seem a bit odd that we have a number of veterans,considering Germany has a higher population, but they have 1-is this something to do with what happened in the last days of WW2 where lots of overage Germans had to go? Don't know... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 15 November , 2004 Share Posted 15 November , 2004 I suppose so...A lot of WW1 German veterans fought in the so called "Volkssturm". Just imagine that the British Home guard also had to fight... A lot of them were also WW1 veterans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LauraEJT Posted 15 November , 2004 Share Posted 15 November , 2004 Hi Kristof, The "Volkssturm"did take a lot of the very young and old so I think you are right-I think there can be few other explanations for this,don't you think? Laura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyford Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 Gareth Thank you for the link to a very moving account. The Observer listed the names of the surviving British WW1 veterans on Remembrance Sunday. Although I can't imagine that this would happen much now, it also made the point that veterans have not always been known about. In some years, previously unknown WW1 veterans have been found, when a Newspaper has run an article about someone who had their hundredth birthday or an anniversary and a reporter has followed it up. I can't imagine that this would ever happen again. It seems that there must be more German WW1 veterans than Charles Kuentz but, whatever, I am very pleased that the two met. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HERITAGE PLUS Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 BBC Radio Bristol broadcast an interview with Harry in their Breakfast/Early Morning programme on Novemmber 11th. It mentioned the meeting of the two veterans. This expands on what he said then. Thamk-you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacky Platteeuw Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 Photos of this very special moment can be seen at: www.lastpost.be then click on pictures. Naturally it only relates to the Last Post Ceremony but I can assure you this moment was very, very emotional. Just mentioning. This year was the 1st Armistice Ceremony in which there was no WW1 veteran present. I am very much afraid that Harry's and Charles were the very last we ever saw at the Menin Gate. We knew it would happen one day. I sincerely hope that I am wrong on this statement. Jacky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPotter Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 Gents, It's taken me a long time to read the extract as it was almost too much to take in one go. Absolutely marvellous. I remember vividly the interviews with Harry Patch from the BBC's 'The Trench' - I was struck by the humanity of the man. Indeed it is an emotional time of year. Regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Robertson Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 The "TIMES" listed the names of the Great War veterans still alive yesterday. They are: Henry Allingham, 108, from Eastbourne, an air mechanic aboard HMS Kingfisher at the Battle of Jutland, who was at the fighting at Ypres and the Somme. Alfred Anderson, 108, from Alyth, Perthshire, a Black Watch sergeant at the Somme, who was batman to Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon, brother of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. George Charles, 104, from Halesworth, Suffolk, a private in the Durham Light Infantry.Bert Clark, 104, from Rushton, who was called up at the end of the war and served in Ireland and India. Kenneth Cummins, 104, from Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, a midshipman whose vessel was torpedoed. William Elder, 107, from Kettering, a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery, who joined the Home Guard in the Second World War. Alfred Finnigan, 108, from Whitland, Wales, a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery. His only wartime injury was a horse bite. George Hardy, 104, from Porthcawl, a private in the 6th Enniskillen Dragoons. Harold Lawton, 105, from Rutland, a corporal in the East Yorkshire Regiment. Fred Lloyd, 106, from Uckfield, East Sussex, a private in the Royal Field Artillery. Albert Marshall, 107, from Ashtead, Surrey. A private at Loos, Mons and Ypres, said to be the last man to draw a sword in a British cavalry charge. Harry Newcombe, 104, from Worthing, a private in the Sussex Regiment. Harry Patch, 106, from Wells, Somerset, a private in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.Ted Rayns, 105, from Stafford, a dispatch rider on the western front. He saw all three battles of the Somme and was a firefighter in the Second World War. George Rice, 107, from Birmingham, a private in the Durham Light Infantry who was recalled as a skilled tradesman to work in Midlands munitions factories. William Roberts, 104, from Jacksdale, Nottinghamshire, a rigger and aircraft fitter with the Royal Flying Corps who signed up at 15 when his father was killed at the Somme. William Stone, 104, from Oxford, a chief petty officer. He watched the German fleet scuttled in Scapa Flow and was torpedoed twice in the Second World War. Charles Watson, 104, from Bromham, Bedfordshire, an air navigator. Cecil Withers, 106, from Bexley, a private in the Royal Fusiliers, who fought in the second battle of the Somme. There is only one known German survivor of the First World War. He is Charles Kuentz, 107, who lives in Colmar, Alsace. He fought on the eastern and western fronts, seeing action at Ypres and the Somme. He survived the battlefield — but lost a son in the Second World War. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auimfo Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 Wonderful story - thanks for bringing to our attention. Tim L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 Nice Story, wonder just what went through their minds as they met. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Wright Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 Thanks for the story as well as the other information about the last veterans! You can imagine that it must have been a very emotional, and rather lonely meeting for those two gentlemen. What a great honor it would have been to have been present! SJW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Noble Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 Just caught up with this posting. Very, very poignant and emotional. Thanks for sharing it. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halder Posted 16 November , 2004 Share Posted 16 November , 2004 The "TIMES" listed the names of the Great War veterans still alive yesterday. They are: William Stone, 104, from Oxford, a chief petty officer. He watched the German fleet scuttled in Scapa Flow and was torpedoed twice in the Second World War. I've had the honour of interviewing Bill Stone twice (the perks of being a Naval journalist). Incredible guy. Bright as a button for his age, remarkable memory and still sings the filthiest Naval ditties after all these years! From memory he served in HMS Hood shortly after her commission, as I think he regularly turns out at Hood Association reunions alongside Ted Briggs, the sole survivor of the sinking (who himself is about 81). Henry Allingham is perhaps the luckiest man alive. Apart from serving at Jutland, he had been transferred to the RND and fought on the Western Front, and later served as a mechanic at St Omer on RNAS/RFC aircraft. Now that's a varied Naval career... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Simon Bull Posted 17 November , 2004 Share Posted 17 November , 2004 I found this item very interesting. However, I simply cannot believe that there is only one Great War German veteran left. I am very much aware of how many First World War veterans must have died as members of the Volkstuurm in the dying days of the Third Reich, as I'm in the process of reading that excellent book "Berlin" by Anthony Beevor. However, (without checking any of the statistics. I refer to below) I am sure that: (1) Despite Germany's significantly greater losses in both wars than Britain, she had a greater population to "absorb" them. (2) More Germans than Britons must have served in the forces in the Great War. (3) For most of the relevant period I would suspect that life expectancy has been better in Germany than Britain. For all these reasons I feel sure that there must be other veterans still alive in Germany who served in the Great War. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 17 November , 2004 Share Posted 17 November , 2004 I was very pleased to have the opportunity to be at "Last Post" when Mr. Patch and Herr Kunz were there. It was a very moving experience. Another Harry Patch quote - "All those young lives lost in a war which ended across a table. Where's the sense in that?" Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essexboy68 Posted 17 November , 2004 Share Posted 17 November , 2004 Absolutely fascinating, I'm always interested to hear about the last veterans...... Just 2 things......... 1. I understood that a previous recent thread mentioned that there was more than just the 1 remaining German, in fact since then I am sure a thread mentioned an interview with some on a Franco-German TV station. Additionally, it has been said it is hard to authenticate German veterans (assuming you felt the need to) as all the records were destroyed in 1945. 2. Just for info "Smiler" Marshall, served in the Essex Yeomanry, & when I last heard (1998) he attends regimental functions. He worked after the war as a groom on a country estate, where I understand he still lives in a tied cottage with one of his daughters. Thanks Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Furnell Posted 17 November , 2004 Share Posted 17 November , 2004 Cheers for the posting,Hants. I had seen a picture in The Sun last week,but there was not much detail. I am surprised there is only WW1 Vet from Germany left,and it is strange that he his is actually a French Citizen,but i would have thought there may have been a few more out there somewhere. All the best. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 17 November , 2004 Share Posted 17 November , 2004 I made this post on another thread today re Charles Kuentz, who is referred to everywhere at the moment as being the last German veteran. He is in fact the last veteran in Alsace who served under the German colours, Alsace being then German. He doesn't claim to be the last German veteran. As far as I understand it from German friends, no one knows how many German veterans there are now but there were a couple recently on ARTE, a Franco/German TV station, in a documentary about the Kaiser. Charles Kuentz was not one of them. Mr. Kuentz attends the commemoration of the First Battle of the Marne at Mondement each year, writes a short speech, walks over to the mike and delivers it in a strong voice. He's profoundly pro-European. This year he was given a standing ovation by the several hundred people who had gathered around the foot of the national monument to the Victory of the Marne. These included the French minister for Veterans and the Sec. of State for integration. He's a grand old man and no mistake. He attends Mondement with his daughter, who is in her mid-80s and looks like mid 60s. He could easily pass for 90. He walks with a stick now but didn't until a couple of years ago. In his long life Charles Kuentz has changed nationality 4 times. His father, born in Alsace before the Franco-Prussian War, managed to change his nationality 5 times. He's a fascinating piece of living European history. Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harribobs Posted 17 November , 2004 Share Posted 17 November , 2004 excellent post ( and replies) thanks chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Russell.Gore@crawley.gov.uk Posted 18 November , 2004 Share Posted 18 November , 2004 Hello All,Sorry about lateness of reply,the pic of the 2 vets was taken at the Hollemeersch Hotel on Mont Kemmel....used it many times meself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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