Product Description

Harry Patch, the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of the First World War, 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 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #845 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 238 pages

Review
PRAISE FOR BRITAIN'S LAST TOMMIES 'A deeply moving tribute to the courage and suffering of all who took part, and to the fallen' The Times 'A remarkable new book' Mail on Sunday 'Van Emden places these men's words in the contexts of their lives and of the progress of the war. He pays them a fine tribute' Guardian

About the Author
Harry Patch served as a private in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. He was married in 1919 and had two sons. Between the wars he worked as a plumber and on building sites in the Bristol area, and when the Second World War broke out, he served first as a fire fighter with the Auxiliary Fire Service throughout the Bath Blitz, and later alongside American troops in the run-up to D-Day. In 2002 he attended the seventy-fifth anniversary of the inauguration of the Menin Gate at Ypres, and in 2005 he took part in the BBC TV documentary The Last Tommies and was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Bristol. He lives in Somerset. Richard van Emden has interviewed over 270 veterans of the Great War and has written widely on the 1914-18 conflict. His previous books include Britain's Last Tommies, Boy Soldiers of the Great War, and the best-selling The Trench. He has visited the Somme and Ypres every year since 1985 and has an expert knowledge of the First World War battlefields. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

A truly remarkable biography.
I have read most of Richard Van Emden's books on the great war but this is surely my favourite. If you are expecting a book solely about the horrors of trench warfare you will be disappointed, what you get instead is one mans perspective of life over the last century and it is truly a wonderful read. Harry Patch is by standards "an ordinary man" but he is remarkably honest in this book, even recalling what must be truly awful to have to remember. I read this book in two sittings and was very moved by the narrative. I suppose because of the fact that when Harry Patch is gone the last link to the trenches dies as well and then it is truly history. As a biography and a perspective on twentieth century history from a man at our own level this is a must read.

Exactly what I wished - and then some...
I had seen Harry interviewed on TV, as the world suddenly became aware that the old WW1 soldiers were fading away. He stood out from the rest as being sharp, witty and engaging. I felt I could listen to him all day.
As soon as I heard this book had been printed, I rushed to get a copy and can say I was not disappointed. In fact, it is more than I expected. You expect the focus to concentrate on the Great War. that's what Harry is famous for now, after all.
What we get instead is an enlightening snapshot of Harry's life. The same sharpness and witty style that I remember from the interview, with historical notes from Richard van Emden. Not only that, the anecdotes open up with such lovely detail the little everyday things of the various time periods, that people always take for granted. From early 1900s youth to 1920s and beyond.
My family lost 3 members at Paschendaele, my Taid (grandad) was also a machine gunner there. This helps me get closer to people I never knew. To understand more what their lives were like. It makes it more important I travel to honour their graves. For that alone, I can only thank Harry.

In a world where 'celebrity' nonentities and overpampered, overpaid so-called icons write their life stories after a single 'event' or having scored a goal for England at 17, this is a refreshing change. I read it feeling priveliged to have been shown a part of Harry Patch's life and leave it feeling nothing but warmth for the man.

The best literary purchase I have made for many years. Not bad for 109!

A classic,
The Last Fighting Tommy is a wonderful book about a remarkable man, Harry Patch.
Harry Patch is the last remaining British soldier to survive the Western front. He is now 109 years old and 90 years ago he was sent with his best mates to fight in the mud and blood of Passchendale.
How Harry has made it to 109 is incredible, but when you read that he had an 2 inch lump of white hot shrapnel blasted into his guts, while his mates were blown up, we know are reading something very special. But this is much more than another book on WW1 trench life, this is Harry's story. There are no hero's or cowards, there is no patriotism and little bitterness. This is one mans story of how he did his duty and how awful it was.
The heartbreaking passages about his doomed Lewis gun crew, and how they found deep friendship and comradeship is beautifully told.
We also hear of his early days in rural somerset, his long and distinguished years as a master plumber/engineer, and his family life with its ups and some very big downs.
Richard Van Emden has worked with Harry over to produce a very moving and almost poetic account of the hell of 1917. It also feels right that the last word from those who took part in this war should go to the humble tommy,who in most cases were treated as nothing more than cannon fodder. This book deserves to become a classic and easily sits alongside the accounts of Graves and Sasson.