List of last surviving World War I veterans by country

This is a list of the last surviving World War I veterans by country. The last living veteran of World War I (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918) was Florence Green, a British citizen who served in the Allied armed forces, and who died 4 February 2012, aged 110.[1] The last combat veteran was Claude Choules who served in the British Royal Navy (and later the Royal Australian Navy) and died 5 May 2011, aged 110.[2] The last veteran who served in the trenches was Harry Patch (British Army) who died on 25 July 2009, aged 111. The last Central Powers veteran, Franz Künstler of Austria-Hungary, died on 27 May 2008 at the age of 107.

The total number of participating personnel is estimated by the Encyclopædia Britannica at 65,038,810. There were approximately 9,750,103 military deaths during the conflict.

Veterans, for this purpose, are defined as people who were members of the armed forces of one of the combatant nations up to and including the date of the Armistice. This policy may vary from the policy in actual use in some countries.

The last surviving verified veteran of World War I per country is shown in the table below.

Country Name Death date Age
 Austrian Empire[3] August Bischof[4] 4 March 2006 105 years
 Australia[5] John Campbell Ross[6] 3 June 2009 110 years
 Belgium Cyrillus-Camillus Barbary[7] 16 September 2004 105 years
 Brazil Waldemar Levy Cardoso 13 May 2009 108 years
 Bulgaria
 Canada John Babcock[8] 18 February 2010 109 years
 China Zhu Guisheng [9] 5 March 2002 106 years
 Czechoslovakian Legions[10] Alois Vocásek[11] 9 August 2003 107 years
 France Pierre Picault[12][13] 20 November 2008 109 years
 German Empire Erich Kästner[14] 1 January 2008 107 years
 Greece
 Hungarian Kingdom[3] Franz Künstler[15] 27 May 2008 107 years
 Indian Empire[5] Robert Francis Ruttledge[16] 12 January 2002 103 years
 Italy Delfino Borroni[17] 26 October 2008 110 years
 Japan Matsuda Chiaki 6 November 1995 99 years
 Montenegro Danilo Dajković[18] 14 September 1993 98 years
 Newfoundland[5] Wallace Pike[19] 11 April 1999 99 years
 New Zealand[5] Bright Williams[20] 13 February 2003 105 years
 Ottoman Empire Yakup Satar[21] 2 April 2008 110 years
 Polish forces[10] Stanisław Wycech[22] 12 January 2008 105 years
 Portugal José Ladeira[23] 5 May 2003 107 years
 Romania Gheorghe Pănculescu[24] 9 January 2007 103 years
 Russian Empire Mikhail Krichevsky[25][26] 26 December 2008 111 years
 Serbia Aleksa Radovanović[27] 22 June 2004 105 years
 Siam Yod Sangrungruang[28] 9 October 2003 106 years
 South Africa[5] Norman Kark[29][30] March 2000 102 years
 United Kingdom Florence Green[31] 4 February 2012 110 years
 United States Frank Buckles[32] 27 February 2011 110 years

See also

References

  1. ↑ Blackmore, David (7 February 2012). "Norfolk First World War Veteran Dies". EDP24. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  2. ↑ Carman, Gerry (6 May 2011). "Last man who served in two world wars dies, 110". The Age. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Austria and Hungary were component, technically sovereign, nations within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
  4. ↑ "Autriche" (in French). Ders Des Ders. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 A self-governing Dominion under the British Empire.
  6. ↑ "Australia's oldest man and Digger Jack Ross dies aged 110". The Age. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
  7. ↑ "Belgique" (in French). Ders Des Ders. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  8. ↑ Goldstein, Richard (2010-02-24). "..John Babcock, Last Canadian World War I Veteran, Dies at 109". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  9. ↑ O'Neill, Mark (March 3, 2014). The Chinese Labour Corps. UK: Penguin Books.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Accorded belligerent status at the Paris Peace Conference.
  11. ↑ "REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE" (in French). Ders Des Ders. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  12. ↑ "france" (in French). Ders Des Ders. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  13. ↑ The French government, under whose legal definition of a WWI veteran as having served six months during the war years Picault did not qualify, officially recognized Lazare Ponticelli, who died March 12, 2008, as the last poilu.
  14. ↑ "Germany's 'last' WWI veteran dies". BBC. January 2008. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  15. ↑ "Franz Künstler, Veteran of 2 Wars, Dies at 107". The New York Times. 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  16. ↑ "Outstanding ornithologist and a founder of Irish Wildbird Conservancy", The Irish Times, 2002-01-19
  17. ↑ "Delfino Borroni: Italy’s last surviving veteran of the First World War". The Times. 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  18. ↑ Петнаестогодишњица упокојења Митрополита црногорско-приморског Г. Данила (1895-1993) (in Serbian). Serbian Orthodox Church. 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  19. ↑ "Last of Newfoundland's WW1 vets passes away". CBC. 1999-04-19. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  20. ↑ "The last Great War veterans". RNZRSA. February 2003. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  21. ↑ "Yakup Satar". The Times. 2008-04-03. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  22. ↑ "Poland’s WWI veteran Stanislaw passes away". Oman Tribune. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  23. ↑ Silva, Carlos (2005-09-07). "1643 portugueses mortos na grande guerra em França" (in Portuguese). Fórum de Genealogia. Retrieved 2010-11-21. Filipe Prista Lucas, a GRG correspondent says (translated from Portuguese) "According to the information I hold, the last Portuguese veteran of World War I died in 2003. His name was Jose Luis Ladeira, and he died on May 5, 2003, in Goshen Valley, Miranda do Corvo, 107 years old."
  24. ↑ "ROUMANIE" (in French). Ders Des Ders. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  25. ↑ Последний в мире ветеран Первой мировой живет в Донецке (фото) (in Russian). Интернет-газета Донбасса. 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  26. ↑ "Oldest known Ukrainian Jew dies at 111". JTA. 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  27. ↑ Racić, M. (2004-06-27). "ODLAZAK POSLEDNJEG SRPSKOG SOLUNCA" (in Serbian). Kurir. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  28. ↑ "Last WW1 veteran dies". Taipei Times. 2003-10-11. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  29. ↑ Printing World (2000-04-17). "Longest serving Stationer dies at the wonderful age of 102". Highbeam Business. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  30. ↑ Ashley, Mike (2010-11-11). "Collecting Crime: London Mystery Magazine - Part Two". Crime Time. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  31. ↑ "Last surviving veteran of First World War dies aged 110". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  32. ↑ Courson, Paul (2011-02-28). "Last living U.S. World War I veteran dies". CNN. Retrieved 2011-02-28.