Claude Stanley Choules

Claude Stanley Choules (1936)

Claude Stanley Choules (born March 3, 1901 in Pershore , † May 5, 2011 in Perth ) was a British - Australian navy. When he died, he was considered the last veteran to have fought in World War I.

Life

Before his 14th birthday, Choules enlisted for military service in the Royal Navy . After passing the draft - he hadn't told you about his real age - he started training in April 1915. Choules served on the HMS Revenge , on which he witnessed the sinking of the Imperial High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow in June 1919 .

In 1926 he came to Australia as an advisor to the British Navy . On the crossing he met Ethel Wildgoose, whom he married in Melbourne that same year . In Australia he decided to permanently switch to the Royal Australian Navy . He served in Fremantle during World War II . He was the last person to be a soldier during both world wars.

He resigned from the Navy in 1950 as Chief Petty Officer and switched to the Port Police . After retiring in 1956, he worked in the fishing industry. He had already become a pacifist after the First World War and refused to take part in veterans' meetings or commemorations at the end of the war.

In the 1980s, he took a creative writing class so he could put down his memories . In 2009 his autobiography The Last of the Last was published . Choules died on May 5, 2011 in a nursing home in Perth. He was married for 76 years - until his wife's death in 2003 - and had three children.

The last living World War I veteran since then has been British Florence Green , who served as a waitress in a Royal Air Force officers' mess but did not take part in combat operations. She died in February 2012.

Works

• The Last of the Last . Hesperian Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-85905-480-5 .

See also

The last World War I veterans in other countries included:

• Florence Green (1901–2012), last British veteran of the First World War
• Frank Buckles (1901–2011), last American veteran of the First World War
• Henry Allingham (1896–2009), last veteran of the Royal Navy of the First World War
• Harry Patch (1898–2009), last British Army veteran of the First World War
• Louis de Cazenave (1897–2008), last World War I veteran who took part in the fighting as a French citizen
• Lazare Ponticelli (1897–2008), last veteran of the First World War in the French Foreign Legion (French citizen from 1939)
• Franz Künstler (1900–2008), last surviving veteran of Austria-Hungary during World War I (German citizen from 1946)
• Erich Kästner (1900–2008), last surviving German soldier of the First World War
• Charles Kuentz (1897–2005), last surviving German soldier from Alsace during the First World War (French citizen from 1919)

Web links

Commons : Claude Stanley Choules  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• The last World War I veteran has died . In: Spiegel Online from May 5, 2011.
• Last soldier of the First World War died . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from May 5, 2011.
• Last soldier of the First World War died . In: FAZ of May 5, 2011
• Last of the Last at Hesperian Press (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Last male WWI veteran dies In: ABC News.