Posted on 11/23/2005 12:24:08 PM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.scotsman.com ...
The Christmas Truce was portrayed in the movie "Oh What A Lovely War". The movie was a rather facetious semi-musical, but the Truce scenes were much like those described here. One of my favorite lines was from a kilted Scot who said something like "We dinna start this, THEY did" (pointing to the nearby English).
My favorite story about a so called truce was when a French pilot shot down a German over France. He landed next to the German who was not injured and captured him and decided to take him to a local bar. When the French police showed up to haul the German off, the French pilot gave him his pistol back. They ran the police off and went back to drinking.
When I lived in Savannah, GA I had a guy who worked on the engine of my sailboat who was a WWII fighter pilot who was shot down over Italy. He was captured and put in a POW compound. He said the German who shot him down would come and see him, have him swear he would not try to escape and take him into the local town. He said this went on for a while until the German pilot didn't come back anymore. He said he has always wondered what happened to him.
Thanks for posting, have a good holiday.
You are blessed to have your mother still with you. My mother was 72 when my grandmother died. It drove my mother's second husband crazy that he wasn't the eldest member of the family.
"I plan to be reading about the next to the last of the Vietnam vets dying."
I hope its about my murder by a jealous 30 year old husband, should be an interesting read?
For those of us with grandfathers from the 'Great War', we're starting to feel old .. (thanks for the ping)
Bad news is: she's actually a step-grandmother, so I don't share any of her genes!
Good idea, I will tell him it was you instead of me.
Pall Mall Flu.Good one.
Rest in Peace Mr. Anderson. "Nemo Me Impune Lecessit"
I carried that as my tagline for a while. It's such a shame that they're doing away with the Black Watch.
Thanks mware, I've never read that before but it's beautiful.
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GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
Note: this topic is from Tuesday, November 22, 2005. |
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Excellent book!
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