Alfred Pugh (last known WWI combat vet) died 1/7/04

[underpants]

I just ran across this on Yahoo. It's not really LBN (no link-3 days ago).

WOW






World War I veteran Alfred Pugh is shown Nov. 10, 1998. Pugh, the last known combat-wounded veteran of World War I, has died. He was 108, just 10 days short of his 109th birthday, when he died Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004. Pugh, who often told visitors the key to a long life is 'keep breathing,' joined the Army in 1917 and fought in France during World War I with the 77th Infantry Division. In 1918, he was wounded during the Meusse-Argonne offensive, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. (AP Photo/St. Petersburg Times, Jonathan Newton)

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. Eric Bogle -- The Band Played Waltzing Matilda...

So now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams and past glories
And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore
They're tired old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

But the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll go a'waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that billabong
Who'll come a'waltzing Matilda with me?

May their memory be for us a blessing.

[Hoosier Democrat]

6. What beautiful words.

What a wonderful tribute. Makes me a little sad to see how fast our old veterans are leaving us. The Doughboys are almost gone and thousands of WWII GI's are dying every day.

In my family, I had a great-uncle who served in WWI, six uncles who served in WWII, and my Dad served in Korea. Now, they're all gone except for one of my WWII vet uncles, who's in his mid-eighties.

After my grandmother died, I inherited the flag that covered her brother's casket when he was killed in action on D-Day. I keep it in a glass-fronted case on the mantel. I've tried to instill in my son how important it is to honor our veterans and all that they did for us. Of course, being a teen-ager, he could care less. However, last year their History class did a unit on World War II. As part of that, they had to interview a World War II veteran. I took him to see an old friend of the family's who served in the European theater, from D-Day to the battle of the Bulge to the drive into Germany. He didn't try to sanitize it for my son, even giving him accounts of liberating on of the Death Camps. My son didn't say one word on the entire forty-minute drive home. I really think he learned more in that one hour than he ever will in hours of reading his text book.

[Coventina]

2. RIP

[GainesT1958]

3. Recently in Northeastern North Carolina...

A gentleman who was 112--one of the oldest-living Americans, period--passed on. He was an aide to General Pershing during WWI, and said the General always spoke highly of him. It's a shame that we're losing the last of the "Doughboys", who were in a war with the first large-scale use of poison gasses as WMD, and many of whom felt the effects of it for the rest of their lives (including my maternal grandfather). They made it through the Depression, and fathered those we now call the "Greatest Generation"; those who fought--and otherwise served us--in WWII, and who, ironically, we're also losing many of on a monthly basis.

God bless Mr. Pugh, and all he, and his buddies in the trenches, on the sea, and in their flying machines, did to "make the world safe for democracy", as Woodrow Wilson put it. They will be sorely missed!

:-(

B-)

[underpants]

5. A great Uncle on my Mother's side

Mustard gassed and was never the same. I never met him though.

[Kamika]

4. Atleast he had 4 american flags with him all the time

*cuts a piece of irony to anyone who wants some

[Zuni]

7. May God be with him

and may he rest in peace.

He will not be forgotten

[Devil Dog Dem]

8. Actually, he was the last known combat-WOUNDED W.W.I Vet.

I know of other combat vets from the Great War. The now-oldest is a Marine (the original Devil Dogs) living in Syracuse who is also 108.

Semper Fi

[underpants]

9. Oh my bad

Damn that is two misreadings today.

[Devil Dog Dem]

10. No sweat!

I just happened to have read an article in Leatherneck Magazine the day before about the oldest living combat Marine from W.W.I (now the oldest W.W.I vet period) so your comment caught my eye.

Semper fi Underpants!