UK: Last combat veteran of first world war dies aged 110

Guardian.co.uk: Last combat veteran of first world war dies aged 110
The old man of the sea had outlived all other known combat veterans of the first world war, served again in the second, and became possibly the oldest published author in the world at the age of 108.

Claude Stanley Choules, former military volunteer who served 41 years in two countries' armed services, later sceptic of war anniversaries, and a swimmer until he reached three figures, had three children, 13 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. He finally died, blind and almost totally deaf, in a nursing home in Perth, Australia. He was 110.

Choules put the secret of his long life down to "breathing" and cod liver oil. On 3 March – his birthday – one of his daughters, Anne Pow, told a journalist: "He doesn't have medication because there is nothing wrong with him."

Born just six weeks after the death of Queen Victoria, in 1901, he saw the first motor car to drive through the village of Wyre Piddle, Worcestershire, witnessed the surrender of the German fleet in 1918 and its scuttling at Scapa Flow the following year, and – having emigrated to Australia in 1926 – laid charges on boats in Fremantle harbour, near Perth, in 1942 amid fears of a Japanese invasion.

Choules, who had dual British and Australian nationality, was nicknamed Chuckles for his personality. He had been determined to create a happy home for his growing family. "My family is the most important thing, " he told The West Australian in a 2009 interview.

Family life had not always been straightforward. At five he was told his mother had died. The truth was more painful. She had left to pursue an acting career.

Choules's son Adrian told the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday he had been overwhelmed with phone calls offering condolences over a man who had become Australia's man and something of a national hero. It was not a time to mourn but to celebrate his father's life and the memories, he said. "He treated his family very, very well, and so they all responded by looking after him very well," Adrian said. "He knew you only get out what you put in, and he was a fine example of that. He was a good family man. He's certainly going to leave a gap in our family."

Choules was renowned for avoiding parades on Anzac Day, the April day when Australians commemorate their military dead. "He always said that the old men make the decisions that send the young men into war," Adrian said.

His daughter, Daphne Edinger, 84, said: "We all loved him. It's going to be sad to think of him not being here any longer but that's the way things go."

The Royal Australian Navy, only two days older than its oldest former member, paid tribute. Captain Brett Wolski, Commanding Officer HMAS Stirling, said: "His career has spanned some of the most significant events in maritime history."

Choules's other daughter, Anne, said: "Dad was always proud of his navy service and considered it his other family. We are grateful for the navy's continued association with the family and their recognition of our father's life."

The last three first world war male veterans living in Britain – Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch – all died in 2009. Florence Green, who was serving as a waitress at RAF Marham, Norfolk, on Armistice Day 1918, is 110. She, however, did not see the front line.

Choules had dropped out of school at 14, was rejected when he applied to join the army as a bugler, and lied about his age to join the navy in 1915. His brothers had fought at Gallipoli before going on to the western front in France, where one, Douglas, was gassed and died a year later; the other, Leslie, won the Military Medal.

By the time Choules saw the German surrender, he was on the battleship HMS Revenge. "There was no sign of fight left in the Germans as they came out of the mist at about 10am," Choules wrote in his autobiography. The German flag was hauled down at sunset. "So ended the most momentous day in the annals of naval warfare," he wrote. "A fleet of ships surrendered without firing a shot." In 1926 he was dispatched to Australia as a naval instructor in the state of Victoria. On the six-week boat trip he met Ethel Wildgoose, whom he married 10 months later. She died 76 years later at the age of 98. "I think it was love at first sight," he wrote in his autobiography. "Certainly on my part anyway." He then settled in Australia and served in the Australian navy.

During the second world war, Choules was the acting torpedo officer at Fremantle and also the chief demolition officer on the western side of Australia.

Early in the war he was flown to Esperance, on Western Australia's southern coast, to identify a mine washed ashore nearby. Eventually it was identified as German and Choules duly disposed of the first mine to wash up on Australian soil during the war.He also had the task of destroying facilities and oil storage tanks in Fremantle harbour, rendering them useless in the advent of a Japanese invasion. He had depth charges placed in ships that had been unable to sail from Fremantle for a safe harbour, with the intent of sinking them should the Japanese invade.

Later he transferred to the naval dockyard police, which allowed him to remain in the service until 1956. In those days, naval ratings had to retire at 50, while police could serve until 55.

Then it was time to go cray fishing. Choules bought a boat and spent 10 years fishing off the Western Australia coast.

In his 80s, encouraged by his children, he took a creative writing course and recorded his memoirs for his family. The memoirs formed the basis of his autobiography, The Last of The Last, which was finally published three decades later in 2009. "I was nobody," he told Australian radio in November 2009. "But I was somebody here." Summing up his life, he said: "I had a pretty poor start, but I had a good finish."