Harry Patch
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Henry "Harry" Patch (born June 17, 1898) is one of the few surviving British veterans of the First World War. He is, as of 2006, the last surviving Tommy to have served on the Western Front.
In World War I, Patch was conscripted into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He was a private at the Third Battle of Ypres. After the war, Patch returned to work as a plumber and, during the Second World War, a fireman.
In November 2004 (at the age of 106), he met Charles Kuentz, a 108-year-old veteran who had fought on the German side at the battlefield of Passchendaele (and on the French side in World War II). Patch was quoted as saying: "I was a bit doubtful before meeting a German soldier. Herr Kuentz is a very nice gentleman however. He is all for a united Europe and peace – and so am I". Kuentz had brought along a tin of Alsatian biscuits and Patch gave him a bottle of Somerset cider in return.
In December 2004, Patch was given a present of 106 bottles of Patch's Pride Cider, which has been named after him.
In July 2005, Harry Patch voiced his outrage over plans to build a motorway in Northern France on the territory of cemeteries of the First World War.
On December 16, 2005 he was awarded an honorary degree by Bristol University, whose buildings he had helped construct in the 1920s.
