Harry Patch was the last surviving soldier living in Europe to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. He died in July this year. At the time of his death, aged 111. He fought at Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres) and was injured by a shell explosion on 22 September 1917 in an incident in which three of his comrades were killed.
Patch had refused to discuss his war experiences, but the realisation that he was part of a fast dwindling group of veterans of the Great War persuaded him to speak.
A fierce critic of war, Patch once said "...if any man tells you he went over the top and he wasn't scared, he's a damn liar."
The group Radiohead marked his death by releasing a song about Patch.
Here are the lyrics and Thom from Radiohead's comments about the song:
Harry Patch (In Memory Of)
"I am the only one that got through
the others died where ever they fell
it was an ambush
they came up from all sides
give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
I've seen devils coming up from the ground
I've seen hell upon this earth
the next will be chemical but they will never learn"
Recently the last remaining UK veteran of the 1st world war Harry Patch died at the age of 111.
I had heard a very emotional interview with him a few years ago on the Today programme on Radio 4. The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me.
It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death. It was done live in an abbey. The strings were arranged by Jonny.
I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.
It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us. I hope we do not forget.
As Harry himself said:
"Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims".
Thom
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