SYDNEY – British-born Claude Choules (110), believed to be the last World War one combat veteran, died in his sleep in an Australian nursing home overnight, his family said yesterday.
“He always said that the old men make the decisions that send the young men into war,” said his son Adrian Choules. “He used to say, if it was the other way around, and the old . . . were off fighting, then there would never be any wars,” he added.
Mr Choules was born in 1901 and signed up with the Royal Navy for the Great War at just 15 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 the second World War, making him the last veteran who served in both World Wars.
While on board the passenger liner that took him to Australia, he met his future wife Ethel. They were married on December 3rd, 1926, and later settled in Western Australia.
His wife died in 2003 at the age of 98 after they had been married for 76 years, and he spent his final years in a nursing home.
“His family was the most important thing in his life,” his other daughter, Anne Pow, said in a 2010 interview.
The only other surviving first World War veteran is believed to be Britain’s Florence Green, also 110, who served with the Royal Air Force in a non-combat role.
Mr Choules leaves behind three children, Daphne, Anne and Adrian, all aged in their 70s and 80s. – (Reuters/PA)