Last surviving WWI veteran dies
Claude Choules dies aged 110 in Australia, the last known war veteran who saw combat in World War I in Europe at the age of just 14. John Sparks looks back on his life.
British-born Claude Stanley Choules passed away at his retirement home in Perth, nearly a century after he went to war in Europe as a teenager.
Known as “Chuckles” by his comrades, Claude was born in Pershore, Worcestershire, just three weeks after the death of Queen Victoria. AT 14 he joined the Royal Navy, and was present at one of the war’s most infamous sea battles, witnessing the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow.
Following the war Mr Choules travelled to Australia and settled, serving in the military for a total of 41 years. It wasn’t until he was 108 that he put his incredible story down on paper, publishing his first book.
Just a week after his fourteenth birthday he started Naval training before joining the HMS Revenge at 16. Whilst serving in the war he also witnessed the surrender of the German Fleet at the Firth of Forth.
It was on his journey to Australia that he met his wife Ethel. Together they had three children after settling in Western Australia where Claude became Chief Demolitions officer throughout WWII. Ethel died in 2003, aged 98, with the pair sharing 76 years of marriage. He leaves behind his three children, all in their 70s and 80s, and their extended families.
His daughter Daphne Erdinger, 84, said of her father: “We all loved him. It’s going to be sad to think of him not being here any longer, but that’s the way things go.”
The only WWI ‘service member’ still alive is Florence Green, who herself turned 110 in February. Florence served as a waitress in the Women’s Royal Navy.