The end of a generation

[ChesCopPodz]

The last known official WWI veteran, from either side, has died. Florence Green, age 110, was a waitress at a RAF officers club.

I've always been interested in the history and the weapons of the Great War, and have always felt that it was overlooked and under appreciated by today's generation.

Now they're all gone.

[mcsap]

My dad at 91+ is a surviving WWII vet and they too are dwindling. Of 11 kids , he and one brother are all thats left of his family. I have a few stories that I know very well but he no longer can recount them very well.

Most of his brothers served in WWII and one of them died at the Battle of the Bulge.

[retdetsgt]

I had a great uncle that was a WWI veteran. I remember when I was a kid, he taught me how to pack a mule..... He was an army mule skinner.... I have some fond memories of him, he was a very nice old man when I was little and always had the time to talk to me.

My father in law was on the USS Enterprise during WWII and was in nearly all the battles. He still has nightmares about the Kamikazes 65+ years later.

[oscarmitre]

The last known official WWI veteran, from either side, has died. Florence Green, age 110, was a waitress at a RAF officers club.

I've always been interested in the history and the weapons of the Great War, and have always felt that it was overlooked and under appreciated by today's generation.

Now they're all gone.

I hope that somewhere someone in authority has some voice/video recordings of interviews with Great War veterans and others. Perhaps the Imperial War Museum (if you're ever in London it's worth a day's visit and there's one in the north in Manchester and there's the huge aviation one at Duxford) has done this.

I never knew my grandfather, he died when my father was a youngster, but my grandfather was in the East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) and his service record shows about a month after he joined up he was sent with the regiment to France. He made it through the Great War (obviously, or I wouldn't be writing this!) and returned to marry my grandmother in 1919. In those days the British Army recruited from whole districts of the country for particular regiments. The Buffs, whose regimental HQ was in Canterbury in Kent, recruited along what was called the Old Kent Road (it was the route taken by the pilgrims - as in "Canterbury Tales" - to Canterbury) and in areas of South London around the start point of the Old Kent Road. So many men were killed that whole districts had no adult men in the immediate afermath. The British Army stopped that form of recruitment post Great War.

[retdetsgt]

I agree, the Imperial War Museum in London is wonderful. I could have spent a whole day in it, but my spouse had other places to go. But I did manage to whine enough to stay there most of it.

[MikeG]

I had a great uncle that was a WWI veteran. I remember when I was a kid, he taught me how to pack a mule..... He was an army mule skinner.... I have some fond memories of him, he was a very nice old man when I was little and always had the time to talk to me.

My father in law was on the USS Enterprise during WWII and was in nearly all the battles. He still has nightmares about the Kamikazes 65+ years later.

"Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman is they authoritative stiry of Mule Skinners.

And I have nigtmares about the Kamikazes from just last weekend..

[retdetsgt]

"Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman is they authoritative stiry of Mule Skinners.

And I have nigtmares about the Kamikazes from just last weekend..

Did you eat at a really bad Asian restaurant or something? Or at least try not to put the green stuff growing in your backyard in your salad....

[ChesCopPodz]

There is a show on the military channel about WWI, and I watch it every time it comes on. I think it's a 10 part series called The First World War. They have interviews with veterans, diary entries, all sorts of good stuff. I've seen each episode many times, but will still watch it whenever i see it.

My grandpa is 90, and was a mechanic on the California coast during WWII. He repaired and maintained fighter planes.

[retdetsgt]

There is a show on the military channel about WWI, and I watch it every time it comes on. I think it's a 10 part series called The First World War. They have interviews with veterans, diary entries, all sorts of good stuff. I've seen each episode many times, but will still watch it whenever i see it.

Great series! I've watched it numerous times too. WWI was a war fought primarily because of monarch's egos and goofy alliances. Generals used all the tactics they learned in the 19th century against 20th century weapons, a recipe for carnage.

The European upper classes had little regard for the masses too. Hence the suicidal (or rather homicidal) charges and the English refusing to allow their pilots parachutes for fear they would abandon a plane prematurely. That says a lot about their priorities.

[MikeyD]

I agree, the Imperial War Museum in London is wonderful. I could have spent a whole day in it, but my spouse had other places to go. But I did manage to whine enough to stay there most of it.

I'll have to put this on my list of things to do the next time I'm there.

I'm willing to bet there are some other unofficial survivors out there.

[patchcop]

I've always been interested in the history and the weapons of the Great War, and have always felt that it was overlooked and under appreciated by today's generation.

I have also an interest in the WWI history and I visited the battlesfields in Verdun, Flandres, Ypern and got a german WWI bajonett from the long past grandfather of my wife. This has been in the Verdun front in 1916, he told me. In this time I read a lot about the battle of the Dardanelles / Gallipoli and I will visit this part of Turkey in two years.

[retdetsgt]

WWI probably had more impact on the world than any other event in last 1000 years. It not only was the catalyst to WWII, it gave rise to Soviet Russia and consequently the cold war.

I've read books that focused entirely on the events leading up to the war. The bottom line is that it was started by the House of Hapsburg trying to maintain it's little empire by forcing Serbia into war so it could annex it too. Russia couldn't allow that because Austria was getting too much control of the Black Sea. When Germany agreed to back Austria, it assumed it would handle Russia and Germany could focus on France. As it turned out, Austria was more or less worthless in the war that it started.

And the generals of both sides were aristocracy and tried to fight it with 19th century tactics using 20th century weapons. For centuries, Europeans had fought wars that just ended up with swapping of territory back and forth and they probably assumed that would be the outcome of this one. But because of the way the war was fought, the devastation was so high that Britain and France wanted much more. They want to seek revenge and forced Germany to take all responsibility. In fact, Russia was just as guilty because the Czar immediately started massing troops on his western border and was going to attack anyway. The fact they did so much and dropped out was forgotten.

France only became involved because of their alliance with Russia. France nor Britain really had no dog in that fight. We didn't either, but British propaganda was so good and we never got Germany's side of the conflict therefore we were supplying Britain. The American people wanted no part of the war and Wilson knew that. Some Americans believe we got into it because of the sinking of the Lusitania, but that was 2 years prior. If the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmerman hadn't been stupid enough to try to get Mexico to invade the US, Germany might have won that war, who knows?

But if the other Europeon powers at the time (Britain, France and Germany) had stayed out of it and let Russia and Austria work it out, the landscape of the world would be a lot different today.

[JaesonZZ]

My father in law was on the USS Enterprise during WWII and was in nearly all the battles. He still has nightmares about the Kamikazes 65+ years later.

I bet he has some stories to tell.

[ChesCopPodz]

WWI probably had more impact on the world than any other event in last 1000 years. It not only was the catalyst to WWII, it gave rise to Soviet Russia and consequently the cold war.

I completely agree. No single war, or any other event for that matter, has led to more changes, both direct and immediate and long term, than WWI. The map of the world changed immensely between the first shot and November 11th, 1918. Not to mention the events it spawned that you mentioned.

[MikeG]

I completely agree. No single war, or any other event for that matter, has led to more changes, both direct and immediate and long term, than WWI. The map of the world changed immensely between the first shot and November 11th, 1918. Not to mention the events it spawned that you mentioned.

WWI invented Patton and Rommel. This arguably shaped warfare for the next 60 years.

Think of the countries without a Rommel or Patton that maintained Horse cavalry. They didn't fare well against armor.