The last combat veteran of WWI, Claude Choules, who served on the British Battleship, HMS Revenge in WWI, died in a nursing home in Australia at the age of 110. According to the BBC news release, Mr. Choules witnessed the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in 1918 and its subsequent scuttling at Scapa Flow. He remained in the king’s service and moved to Australia in 1926 and transferred to the Royal Australian Navy.
“At the outbreak of war in 1939 Choules was the Acting Torpedo Officer, Fremantle and also the Chief Demolition Officer on the western side of the Australian continent.
He was tasked with destroying vital military installations should the threatened Japanese invasion of Australia come to pass.”
As part of his duties in WWII, his demolition team were ordered to destroy the port facilities in Fremantle to keep them from falling into Japanese hands. Mr. Choules retired from the navy in 1956 after 40 years serving in uniform.
With the recent death of Frank Buckles in the US, this leaves only Florence Green of Great Britain as the last living veteran of WWI. Ms. Green was a waitress in the Women’s Royal Air Force.
News source – BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10205174
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