GREAT WAR VETERANS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3446, 22 March 1932, Page 2

GREAT WAR VETERANS

LAST OF THE "TOMMIES" IN

2005.

There are 4,500,000 British veterans of the war still living, but by the year 2005 nearly every one will have answered the "Last Post."

More than 7,000,000 men and women served under the British flag afloat and ashore between August 4, 1914, and November 11, 1918. Before the Armistice was signed 1,000,000 lost their lives. Of the 6,000,000 left, 1,500,000 have since died.

In 1988 there will be 30,000 war veterans left. They will be those born in or about the year 1900. These are actuarial figures.

By 1990 onwards the numbers will shrink rapidly, and the next ten years will see the figure reduced to about 2000.

These will be the Boys of the Old Brigade in their nineties. From the year 2000 onwards last survivors will be reported all over the world.

The last British war veteran to die may be one of the drummer boys who played the British troops out of the line at Mons.

It is quite probable that he will have lived in three centuries.

He will have recollections of meeting General Roberts in Flanders in 1914, thus forging a link between 2005 and the Indian Mutiny in 1857. More than 1,000,000 women served the forces of the Crown. A girl who joined the W.A.A.C.'s in 1918 may still be alive in 2005. She may even be maried to the world's oldest soldier.

There are 500,000 women still living who wore uniform between 1914 and 1918.

Here are some more interesting facts: —

Of soldiers, infantrymen live longest.

The average sailor lives longer than the average soldier. Airmen live a life of speed. They do not expect longevity. The death rate apart fx-om accidents is high.