[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Only two WWI veterans left in the whole world.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...03/3153676.htm

Mr Choules is with us no more.

The man believed to have been the last living male veteran of World War I has died in Perth aged 110.

British-born Claude Choules served in the Royal Navy during World War I and witnessed the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow.

Mr Choules was born in 1901 and signed up for the Great War at just 14 years of age.

After the war, he moved to Perth and joined the Australian Navy, working as a demolition officer at the Fremantle Harbour during World War II.

Mr Choules died in his sleep in a Perth nursing home overnight.

The only other surviving WWI veteran is believed to be Britain's Florence Green, who served with the Royal Air Force in a non-combat role and is now 110 years old.

'He hated war'

In March, Mr Choules celebrated his 110th birthday.

At the time, Mr Choules's son, Adrian, spoke about his father's war experience.

He said his father had been taught to think "that the Germans... were monsters, terrible people" after joining the navy.

Adrian Choules said his father soon realised "they were exactly the same as any young people".

"And he hated war. War for him was a way of making a living, that was his job," he said.

Mr Choules said when his father talked about his life he rarely mentioned his war experiences, adding the only military marches he participated in were when he was a serviceman.

"He wasn't interested in war, war to him was a terrible thing," he said.

Claude Choules was born in Wyre Piddle in the English Midlands on March 3, 1901.

He moved to Australia in 1926 and served in the RAN, becoming chief demolition officer for Australia's vast western coastline, which was then considered vulnerable to attack from the Japanese.

In 2009, Mr Choules published a book about his life, The Last of the Last, in which he credited his longevity to keeping his family close.

His grandson, Mal Edinger, says he has fond memories of spending school holidays with his grandfather.

"He used to come and stay with us for two weeks on Garden Island," he said.

"Always a fitness fanatic, he'd have us up at 6:00 in the morning in winter, running up and down the beach.

"We'd come back and on the stove, Granny would have a big pot of porridge or as he'd called it 'burgoo'."

Mr Edinger says his grandfather was a great family man.

"He was a great grandfather in that he just loved his family," he said.

"To us as grandchildren, he never talked about the bad things that happened in war, but he'd talk about swallow diving off the fly bridge off [HMS] Eagle, which he was on at the time."