France's oldest WWI veteran dies

[Biggles]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7199127.stm

What a shame...soon there will be noone left to tell us how it was during the Great War...

He even survived the Somme AND the Nivelle offensive!

[Biggles]

Well, I don't remember who said it but:

"War is a pleasure for those who hasn't encountered it".

[antikristuseke]

Indeed, people who have been in the thick of battle rarely, if ever, call for more war. The tales of my grandfather who fought in the second world war and my grandmother who was deported to Siberia have been ennough to make me not to want to fight in any war.

[nikimcbee]

If I heard it right, that was France's last WWI vet. The US has one WWI vet left, what about the other countries remaining vets?

[Stealth Hunter]

Italy still has one or two mudcrunchers hanging in there. Old gentlemen, but they're not going down without a fight. Many more years to them, hopefully.

[Biggles]

Britain has at least one, who, incidentially, is the oldest man in the UK. Apparently he survived the Battle of Jutland.

I don't think that there is anyone else that lived through the war before 1916.

[edit]

Here is an interesting list that really shows that soon the Great War will be totally gone from living memory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_su...ran_by_country

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Biggles

Britain has at least one, who, incidentially, is the oldest man in the UK. Apparently he survived the Battle of Jutland.

I don't think that there is anyone else that lived through the war before 1916.

[edit]

Here is an interesting list that really shows that soon the Great War will be totally gone from living memory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_su...ran_by_country

Good list.....highlights the pending demise of an interesting generation (as if they didn't suffer enough in so many other every day ways)

[Biggles]

What I find rather tragic about the war(amongst countless other things) is the attitude towards war-tired soldiers. People with shellshock damage was considered as weak, and some was even executed!

[XXi]

Originally Posted by Biggles

What I find rather tragic about the war(amongst countless other things) is the attitude towards war-tired soldiers. People with shellshock damage was considered as weak, and some was even executed!

True, it was a real shame although the way these guys were treated depended on the force they were serving in.In Germany, shellshock was finally recognized as Granatenfieber, people suffering this kind of nervous breakdown were sent off the active duty.
On the other hand, in the same time victims of shellshock were treated as deserters or cowards by the British Army

[August]

It was a time when even the use of parachutes was considered cowardly.

[Tchocky]

Originally Posted by XXi

True, it was a real shame although the way these guys were treated depended on the force they were serving in.In Germany, shellshock was finally recognized as Granatenfieber, people suffering this kind of nervous breakdown were sent off the active duty.
On the other hand, in the same time victims of shellshock were treated as deserters or cowards by the British Army

The treatment of shellshock (known as neurasthenia by many), differed wildly according to service and rank. I think the highest rate of breakdown was among the flying corps (I could be very wrong, it's been a long time since I studied this stuff)
Some officers were treated at Craiglockhart by WHR Rivers, a doctor who had a working understanding of the mind at war. Check out his 1918 paper, On the Repression of War Experience, it's a fascinating read. Horrific cases mixed with interesting insight; e.g. mutism was common among troops, but very rare among officers. Rivers saw it as soldiers wanting to speak out against the horrific war, but fearful of the consequences (treason, dereliction etc), and so resolved by becoming mute. Officers were not subject to the same pressures. Example, see Siegfried Sassoon's declaration.
Lewis Yealland, a Canadian doctor in London, would electrocute shell-shocked men until they were functional. (A gross simplification, naturally )

It's hard to get angry about this king of thing, the whole notion of army medicine is so contradictory in itself.

August - Yeah, the RFC believed that parachutes would encourage pilots to abandon a perfectly good aeroplane, or at least one that isn't too severely damaged. Balloon observers got 'chutes.
Thinking about this on a utilitarian basis, the costs of training a pilot and building an aircraft could have been closer then than they are today. Maybe we're thinking about it with the wrong mindset. Oh well.

[Stealth Hunter]

Originally Posted by Biggles

Britain has at least one, who, incidentially, is the oldest man in the UK. Apparently he survived the Battle of Jutland.

I don't think that there is anyone else that lived through the war before 1916.

[edit]

Here is an interesting list that really shows that soon the Great War will be totally gone from living memory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_su...ran_by_country

Harry Patch is still alive. You're thinking of Henry Allingham (who is the SECOND oldest man in the world at age 111).