Henry Allingham Dies at 113

Henry Allingham dies at 113; world's oldest man and outspoken WWI veteran
Allingham was the last surviving original member of the Royal Air Force, which was formed in 1918. He made it a personal crusade to talk about a conflict that wiped out much of a generation. Though nearly blind, he would take the outstretched hands of visitors in both of his, gaze into the eyes of children, veterans and journalists and deliver a message he wanted them all to remember.British First World War veteran Henry Allingham has died at the age of 113 Photo: REUTERS
The Queen meets Mr Allingham at the Buckingham Palace Garden Party on 10 July, 2007 Photo: PA
Henry Allingham in the uniform of the Royal Naval Air Service, circa 1918
Mr Allingham died in his sleep at 3.10am on Saturday at his care home near Brighton, after a life that saw him marked out as a national treasure. He was one of the last three surviving British veterans of the First World War. By Howard Mustoe

July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Henry Allingham, the world’s oldest man and one of the U.K.’s two remaining World War I veterans, died aged 113, the care home where he spent his last years said.

Allingham, who served with the Royal Naval Air Service during the 1914-1918 conflict, had “a great spirit of fun and represented the last of a generation who gave a very great deal for us,” Robert Leader, chief executive officer of St Dunstan’s Care Home, at Ovingdean, East Sussex, said in an e-mailed statement today. “Henry made many friends among the residents and staff at St Dunstan’s. He was a great character and will be missed.”

Allingham, who died peacefully in his sleep at 3:10 a.m., attributed his longevity to “cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women,” the Independent newspaper reported on June 20, the day after he became the world’s oldest man following the death at 113 of Japanese national Tomoji Tanabe.

“For one of his age, his vigor for life was extraordinary,” Defense Minister Kevan Jones said of Allingham in an e-mailed statement. “I was humbled to meet somebody who has led such an amazing life and we owe such debt of gratitude to him and his generation. My thoughts are with his family.”

The world’s oldest person is 115-year-old Gertrude Baines, who was born in Georgia on April 6, 1894, according to the Los Angles-based Gerontology Research Group’s Web site. It says the oldest man is now Minnesota-born Walter Breuning, aged 112. Allingham’s death means Harry Patch, aged 111, is Britain’s last survivor of the Great War.

‘State Funeral’

Allingham and Patch “should receive a state funeral after all they did for the country,” said Jim Hume, 55, secretary of the Dumbarton, Scotland-based Armed Forces Veterans Association. “They represent the last of their generation who gave it all up,” he said in a telephone interview.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to Allingham, who served at Ypres and witnessed the battle of Jutland.

‘National Treasure’

The Prince of Wales described Allingham as “one of our nation’s historic treasures” and “a quiet, genial man.”

Writing the foreword to Allingham’s autobiography, “Kitchener’s Last Volunteer,” published in 2008, Prince Charles said “his life has encapsulated mankind’s prolific and speedy acceleration into the modern era as we know it.”

In November 2008, Allingham attended ceremonies to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. “I saw too many things I would like to forget but I never will forget them, I never can forget them,” the BBC quoted him as saying before the event.

Patch, speaking from Fletcher House care home in Wells, England, said he was “very sad at losing a friend,” the broadcaster said.

Allingham, whose wife Dorothy died in 1970 after 53 years of marriage, had two daughters, six grandchildren, 16 great- grandchildren, 21 great-, great-grandchildren and one great-, great-, great-grandchild. He met Dorothy, a nurse, when he was admitted to hospital in the English town of Yarmouth with a cracked rib during World War I, the Daily Telegraph reported.

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