On Saturday, Florence Green of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England died, two weeks short of her 111th birthday.
Mrs Green was believed to be the last surviving veteran of World War I. On the planet. Although she never left England, she was a serving member of the Women's Royal Air Force when the war ended on Nov 11, 1918. That she lived more than 93 years after that date is amazing. Even more so when one considers that she remained in good health and of sound mind until the end.
With her death, an era is officially ended. There are still a few very elderly people around who were alive during the years 1914-1918, as children, but of the countless millions who wore the uniforms of all of the combatants, she was the last survivor.
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Good reporting..
HUGGGGGGGGG
The death of the last Dunkirk, Battle of Britain or Pearl Harbor survivor is not far off . That would indeed be the end of an era. Though since there were some very young child soldiers fighting for the Germans in the last days of WWII, the death of the last veteran might be a while.
Thank you. I thought her passing was worth mentioning.
Probably because she was English. The death of Frank Buckles, the last American WWI vet, got more attention in the domestic media.
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http://open.salon.com/blog/kristenraney3/2012/02/07/niels_nielsen_the_story_of_a_republican_immigrant
Peace on a global scale- what a concept!
But it seems the best we can hope for is that the localized/regional conflicts which never have stopped flaring up during the 20th and now the 21st century don't expand as they have creating past world wars. The development and proliferation of nuclear and biological weapons would make WWIII extremely unpleasant...
Thanks for reading this- and also for sharing your grandfather's inspiring story.
Amazingly, it wasn't until 2010 that her service was officially recognized and she was listed as a veteran...
The degree of historical ignorance displayed by the average person is mindboggling- and frightening. For most, World War I might as well have taken place in the Dark Ages, even though geopolitical ramifications from that time still impact the world today...
Rated!
I always liked the saying, "What if they held a war, and nobody showed?!" Peace, give it a chance!!!
Yes. With the weapons they have now there won't ever be a WW-
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That should read: "WW-IV"
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You have 9 lives- maybe peace will break out during one of them...
This all reminds me of the song No Man's Land (The Green Fields of France) by Eric Bogle. Lyrics at http://www.tadpoletunes.com/songs/nomans.htm
Thanks for reading.
I would have thought a healthy respect- or fear of just what damage nukes can do would be a deterrent. And Chernobyl and Fukashima would act as reminders. Apparently not. Maybe we'd better start taking archery lessons...
Hard to believe the end of an era has come. Even scarier, when I realize that I will live to see the day when the last WW2 veteran will die.
R♥
r.
Pax tecum, Florence Green.
When I was younger I met an elderly woman whose father had fought in the Franco-Prussian war. THAT was mindblowing.
As is the fact that two grandsons of President John Tyler (1790-1862) are not only still alive, they're not unusually old- Jan Sand is older than one of them.
Thank you.
As we lose our links to history, we seem to also lose the opportunity to learn from it.
Florence was born less than a month after Victoria's death- Britannia really did rule then- she saw the world turned upside down several times.
Someone born on the day WWI ended would be past 93 now- and that's very old. To have served in that war and lived more than 93 additional years- amazing.
Requiescat in Pace, Florence Green