The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, Last Veteran of the Trenches, 1898-2009A&C Black, 7 set 2009 - 256 pagine Harry Patch, the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of the First World War, is one of very few people who can directly recall the horror of that conflict. Harry vividly remembers his childhood in the Somerset countryside of Edwardian England. He left school in 1913 to become an apprentice plumber but three years later was conscripted, serving as a machine gunner in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Fighting in the mud and trenches during the Battle of Passchendaele, he saw a great many of his comrades die, and in one dreadful moment the shell that wounded him kill his three closest friends. In vivid detail he describes daily life in the trenches, the terror of being under intense artillery fire, and the fear of going over the top. Then, after the Armistice, the soldiers' frustration at not being quickly demobbed led to a mutiny in which Harry was soon caught up. The Second World War saw Harry in action on the home front as a fire-fighter during the bombing of Bath. He also warmly describes his friendship with American GIs preparing to go to France, and, years later, his tears when he saw their graves. Late in life Harry achieved fame, meeting the Queen and taking part in the BBC documentary The Last Tommies, finally shaking hands with a German veteran of the artillery and speaking out frankly to Prime Minister Tony Blair about the soldiers shot for cowardice in the First World War. The Last Fighting Tommy is the story of an ordinary man's extraordinary life. |
Sommario
Maps | |
Victorian Born | |
Edwardian Raised | |
Joiningup 4 In the Trenches | |
Wounded 7 Mutiny | |
World War II | |
Growing Older | |
Harry His Family and Friends | |
Acknowledgements | |
A Note on the Authors | |
Altre edizioni - Visualizza tutto
The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, Last Veteran of the ... Richard van Emden,Harry Patch Anteprima limitata - 2010 |
The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, Last Veteran of the ... Harry Patch,Richard van Emden Anteprima limitata - 2008 |
The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, Last Veteran of the ... Harry Patch,Richard van Emden Anteprima limitata - 2010 |
Parole e frasi comuni
andI Andrew Motion andthe army asked attack atthe Bath battalion battle battle of Passchendaele bomb bombers boys Bristol Britain’s British brother building butI called camp canal casualties Charles Kuentz church Compton Dundon couldn’t DCLI Dennis didn’t Doris Whitaker Duke of Cornwall’s Engineers father fighting fire France friends fromthe garden German hada hadbeen Harry Patch Harry’s hehad Henry Allingham hewas Idon’t Ihad inthe itwas Iwas killed knew Langemarck Last Tommy Lewis gun Lewis gun team lived looked machine gun memorial Midford Monkton Combe Moonfleet morning mother never night officer ofthe oneof onthe plumber plumbing Poperinge pump quarries railway regiment remember Richard van Emden round sergeant shell soldiers Somerset Light Infantry Steenbeek stone thatI therewas told took tothe trenches Uncle usedto veterans village walk wanted wasa William wounded Ypres