Veterans

Today Harry Patch, the last surviving British "Tommy" to fight in World War One, died at age 111. He'd been a machine-gunner in 1917.  A week earlier the previous oldest survivor died, at 113.

This has special poignancy for me because today is St James' Day, the day on which 68 years earlier my father had a rather frightening encounter with a German battleship.  The unequal struggle smashed his aircraft into the sea, killing one crew member, but only wounding my father. His life then took an alto