Foo - WW1 link nearly broken

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View Full Version : WW1 link nearly broken

coasting
07-19-09, 03:52 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8157128.stm

Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and one of the last surviving World War I servicemen, has died at the age of 113, his care home has said.

Amazing. To think there were only 20 lifetimes of this man's lifespan to get back to Roman times makes human history seem so short.

redneckwes
07-19-09, 06:44 PM
I had the honor of knowing a veteran of the great war, My Great great uncle was an Infantryman in the "Buckeye Division" U.S. Army in the war, he lived to be almost 106.

Not many left now.
Luddite
07-19-09, 06:55 PM
106?!? That's incredibly long-lived. 113?! too stubborn to die, eh?

redneckwes
07-19-09, 07:23 PM
Uncle Albert was made of some tough stuff, on the Thomas side of my family, a young death is mid 80's!
Velo Vol
07-19-09, 08:59 PM
It's notable that the war memories were so horrible that he refused to discuss them for decades. Shows how messed up it really was. Europeans and their crazy wars. :rolleyes: That trench warfare was one of the most insane episodes in human history.
iamlucky13
07-19-09, 11:00 PM
It's notable that the war memories were so horrible that he refused to discuss them for decades. Shows how messed up it really was. Europeans and their crazy wars. :rolleyes: That trench warfare was one of the most insane episodes in human history.

I've known a couple people like that. One is a great uncle who flew B-17's. Something he said at one point suggested to my dad that he may have been on the Dresden raid. He'd talk about flying happily enough, but never about bombing raids.

Another was an old marine at my church who was at Iwo Jima. That's the sum total of all I ever heard about his service.
gbcb
07-19-09, 11:16 PM
RIP Mr. Allingham. My grandfather fought in the first war (in and around Ypres, if I'm not mistaken) until he was injured. The man in front of him was killed by an exploding shell, and my grandfather just got a piece of shrapnel in his shoulder.


One is a great uncle who flew B-17's.
I saw "B-17" and immediately thought "Brooks" :rolleyes: