Name: The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches
SKU: BLOOMSBURYUK-9780747593362
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The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches

$52.96

Harry Patch, the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of World War I, is now 108 years old and 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 killed 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. World War II saw Harry in action on the home front as a firefighter 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 Tony Blair about the soldiers shot for cowardice in World War I. The Last Fighting Tommy is the story of an ordinary man’s extraordinary life.

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About the Author

Richard van Emden has interviewed more than 270 veterans of the Great War and has written widely on the 1914–18 conflict. His previous books include Boy Soldiers of the Great War, Britain’s Last Tommies, and Prisoners of the Kaiser.

Product information

PartNumber	9780747593362	Author	Patch, Harry
Author	van Emden, Richard	Manufacturer	Bloomsbury UK
Item Weight	0.44 Pounds	ItemDimensions	5.5 x 0.75 x 7.75Inches
NumberOfItems	1	binding	Paperback
Amazon Category	Books » Biographies » Leaders & Notable People Biographies » Military Leader Biographies » WWI Biographies	Amazon Category	Books » Biographies » Leaders & Notable People Biographies » Political Leader Biographies
Amazon Category	Books » History » Military History » World War I History	ISBN	0747593361
ISBN	9780747593362	EAN	9780747593362

Weight	0.44 lbs

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The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches

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About the Author

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