Last veteran of World War One dies at 109 (Scotland)

The Scotsman ^ | Tue 22 Nov 2005 | FRANK URQUHART

[SittinYonder]

SCOTLAND'S last surviving veteran of the First World War, and the country's oldest man, died peacefully at a nursing home yesterday aged 109 - severing the last tangible link between the nation and the 690,235 Scots who served in the Great War.

Alfred Anderson was the last of the "Old Contemptibles" - the British expeditionary force which went to war in 1914 - and the last surviving witness of the historic Christmas truce when opposing troops declared a brief and unofficial ceasefire to play football and share drinks and cigarettes in the hell of no man's land. Mr Anderson served with the 5th Battalion the Black Watch until he was wounded by shrapnel in 1916.

Yesterday, members of his former regiment, Jack McConnell, the First Minister, and the Royal British Legion joined in paying tribute to the "dignified and unassuming" hero of the war that was supposed to end all wars.

[sandbar]

May you rest in peace brave Sir.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Sacrifice begets Sacrifice.


MEL's -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts


...just for the LOVE of it.

.

[eyespysomething]

My great uncle died in that war also.

[eyespysomething]

Doesn't look too bad for 109!

[Vaquero]

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004615.html

[Arthalion]

Those numbers are a bit dated, and the WWI vets are leaving us quickly at this point. The last estimate I saw put the number of living WWI combat veterans at less than 50 in the US, and even that number was drawn up about a year ago.

[wireman]

1896-2005

Lived in three centuries.

Amazing.

[IronJack]

Wow. Truly a witness to history. And an end to an era.

[Jackknife]

Ping

[SandRat]

Scotland the Brave

Amazing Grace

[Bringbackthedraft]

Brings one back to when the last CW vet died in the 50s. My generation still had a few around in the late 40's - 50's. Soon we'll be reading about the last WWII vet. Speak to them now, their stories won't be available in a few more years.

[Lady Jag]

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Statement: "Last veteran of World War One dies at 109 (Scotland)"

Response: Ave atque vale frater.

[U S Army EOD]

When I was in Scotland I was in a small town that had a huge war memorial and very long list of names. I asked about it and was told the ratio of young men to women at the end of WWI was 15 women to 1 man in that town.

During the Battle of the Somme on the 1st July 1916 the British literally lined up 27 divisions and charged 16 German divisions. By that evening over 58,000 British soldiers lay dead or wounded on that small battlefield. About 1 of 3 were dead. The battle lasted into the winter of that year. The British lost 420,000 men, the French lost 200,000 men and the Germans lost about 500,000 men. The British penetration at its furtherest point was 12km.

Pray we never see anything like that.

[mware]

I saw an earlier thread regarding this Tommy. He was a witness to the Christmas Truce of 1914.

[mware]

Christmas in the Trenches
(John McCutcheon)

---

My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
'Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families back in England were toasting us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky ground
When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, ``Now listen up, me boys!'' each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
``He's singing bloody well, you know!'' my partner says to me
Soon, one by one, each German voice joined in harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war
As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause was spent
``God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen'' struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was ``Stille Nacht.'' ``Tis `Silent Night','' says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
``There's someone coming toward us!'' the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one long figure trudging from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shown on that plain so bright
As he, bravely, strode unarmed into the night
Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man's Land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Young Sanders played his squeezebox and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men


Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each prepared to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wonderous night
``Whose family have I fixed within my sights?''
'Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost, so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone forevermore


My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I, I've learned its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same

[U S Army EOD]

That is when they had the soccer game. After that incident, both the Germans and the British had to move the troops involved to another area. They basically refused to fight each other.

PS; The Germans still claim they won the soccer match.

[U S Army EOD]

I plan to be reading about the next to the last of the Vietnam vets dying.

[mware]

If you are interested in read a very well researched book on the Christmas Truce, get Stanley Weintraub's, Silent Night, The story of the World War I Christmas Truce.

[MamaB]

I often think that of my mom who is 101. She has gone from horse and wagon, horse and buggy, first cars, first planes, etc.