Posted on 10/17/2005 8:19:56 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SYDNEY, Australia - The last Australian veteran to see action in World War I has died at age 106, government officials said Tuesday.
William Evan Allan enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy when he was just 14 at the outbreak of the war, serving as seaman on HMAS Encounter from 1915 until 1918.
"With his passing, we have lost an entire generation who left Australia to defend our nation," Veterans Affairs Minister Deanne Kelly said in a statement. "Mr. Allan was just a boy when he went to war, much younger than most. His sacrifice is remembered and we honor him for his service."
Born in the southeastern town of Bega in July 1899, Allan sailed in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during the first war, escorting troop ship convoys.
Allan, from the southern city of Melbourne, also served in World War II.
He served in the Royal Australian Navy for 34 years, retiring in 1947 with the rank of lieutenant.
Australia still has one more surviving veteran who served during World War I but wireless operator John Campbell Ross, 106, was never posted in a war zone.
Authorities in Victoria state said allan would be given a state funeral.
Allan is survived by his daughter and two grandchildren.
In this undated hand out photo from the Department of Veterans Affairs' is William Evan Allan, the last Australian veteran to see active service in World War I, enlisting in the Royal Australian Navy as a boy sailor at the outbreak of the war when he was just 14 and served as an able seaman on HMAS Encounter from 1915 until 1918. Allan has died at age 106 in his Melbourne home Monday, Oct.17, 2005. (AP Photo/Department of Veterans' Affairs, ho)
He did more than defend the nation -- he did what Australians have done in EVERY war, including 'Nam: he helped defend the liberty of the whole world. Rest in peace, mate.
He did more than defend the nation -- he did what Australians have done in EVERY war, including 'Nam: he helped defend the liberty of the whole world. Rest in peace, mate.
This man saw the modern world from its birth. RIP, mate!
Bless his heart, but if he died at 106, how old are his daughter and two grandchildren? What did he do, marry at age 70?:)
Damn rack this vet
Got ping Canteen on this
Wow - joined at the age of 14.
Thank you and may God give you a good assignment in his Navy.
LVM
"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"
When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in nineteen fifteen the country said, "Son,
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done."
And they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As our ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, flag-waving and tears
We sailed off to Gallipoli.
And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water.
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk he was waiting, he primed himself well,
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell,
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.
But the band played Waltzing Matilda,
As we stopped to bury our slain.
We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.
Now those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive,
But around me, the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead.
Never knew there was worse things than dying.
For I'll go no more Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and free,
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more Waltzing Matilda for me.
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind and insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve and to mourn and to pity.
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway.
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.
And so now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory.
And the old men marched slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war,
And the young people ask,"What are they marching for?",
And I ask meself the same question.
But the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
And the old men still answer the call.
But as year follows year, more old men disappear,
Someday no one will march there at all.
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me ?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me ?
Rest in Peace, mate. America salutes you too.
Some units at Gallipoli took 120% casualties. How is that possible? The wounded got off the ships and returned to the lines to fight again. And were wounded again, or killed. They've got men Down Under.
Well, either they had men wounded more than once or they counted replacement soldiers in the totals. That has been known to happen.
God bless him. Rest in peace.
Pray he had a hero's welcome.
Our thanks for his service.
Thank you Lt William Allan for your service to your country.
The White Ensign, flown by His Majesty's Australian Ships during the First and Second World Wars. Replaced in 1967.
The Australian White Ensign, flown by Her Majesty's Australian Ships since 1967.
Wow - How many of us as kids remembered these WWI vets in parades? - I'm starting to feel old today ...
Most likely both.
When the U.S. preparing for the invasion of Japan, the units that were to hit the beaches on X-Day were expected to take 150% casualties. This included people wounded more than once as well as all the replacements. Most U.S. generals expected the invading units to suffer 75%-90% killed on the first day. Thankfully, the atomic bombs saved countless American and Japanese lives.
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