The Last Fighting Tommy, by Harry Patch with Richard Van Emden
If you are British, you may have heard of Harry Patch. He was until his death, the last surviving veteran of the trenches in World War One. He also reached the remarkable age of 111 years, and upon his centurion, the British public became enamored by him. Popping up for interviews here and there, he became an quasi mythical figure, a man from another world, so to speak, and the last to have witnessed the horror of war, and able to deliver its testament.
I must admit though, I was reluctant to read the book. Until we stop glorifying war we are destined to repeat it. Despite Wilfred Owen’s wonderful poem Dulce Et Decorum Est, it seems the love affair with the British Military is still going strong. Percy Shelley said: ‘Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: He only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.’ While I would not go quite as far, I’m inclined to agree with him.
Of course, from 1914-18, British men didn’t have a choice in the matter, and poetic maxims were useless. Despite this, Harry is quite adamant, he never wanted to go to battle. He states ‘I had no inclination to fight anybody. I mean why should I go out and kill somebody I never knew, and for what reason?’ He even goes as far to call war, ‘legalized mass murder.’ What comes across in the story is Harry’s humility. There is not a trace of ego in his reflections, and he seems simply a good man, who lived an honest life. This is something so refreshing, in today’s world.
The autobiography is also a record of the trenches. Harry states: ‘It doesn’t matter how much training you had, you can’t prepare for the reality, the noise, the filth, the uncertainty and the call for stretcher bearers.’ It was a time of perpetual terror, and sometimes boredom. Lightning flash scenes of bombed out villages, eviscerated soldiers, and pulverized bodies. However, war only made up a small portion of Patch’s life and a part he’d rather forget. His recollections are overall an intimate vision into life in both the Edwardian Era before the War, and then the era of the Empire’s decline, after it. The author is a fantastic storyteller, and his thoughts are rich with sensual detail. This makes the book a evocative read.
The biography is called the Last Fighting Tommy but perhaps it shouldn’t be. Unfortunately we define Harry Patch, as a veteran of the trenches and an extremely old man. Both are destinies he couldn’t help! Behind this, he was also a husband, father, plumber, business-man and quiet celebrity, whose life spanned ten decades. It is nice to see, that this other side of Patch was also felt and explored in the book.
Harry died in 2009. At his state and ceremonial funeral, he requested, no guns were to be carried. Of Armistice day, he stated, ‘it is nothing but a show of military force. I don’t think there is any actual remembrance, except for those who have lost someone they really cared for [...] That day the day, I lost my pals, 22 September 1917 - That is my Remembrance.’ I think the biggest tragedy of human nature is our ability to forget, and our ability to be fooled. With the death of the last fighting tommy we lost a man who had really seen the reality of war in all its ugliness, and as such he was indispensable. This is a profoundly moving autobiography, of love, loss and trauma. Behind the soldier was man just like me or you.
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