Memorial to Britain’s ‘last Tommy’ Harry Patch to be built in Wells
Local community comes together to create a lasting tribute to First World War veteran
Harry Patch in 2002
Work is to begin on a new memorial to Harry Patch, who served with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry during the First World War.
He died in 2009, aged 111, and was known as Britain’s ‘last Tommy’ for being the last survivor of the trenches.
The monument is to be sited near the Wells and Mendip Museum, in the heart of the Somerset city where Harry lived.
It has been made possible by the donations of local people, which have included Somerset stone and Welsh slate.
Harry Patch was born in 1898, and joined up in late 1916. The following year, he was badly wounded during the Third Battle of Ypres and sent home to recover, remaining in Britain for the rest of the war.
In his later years, he wrote of his disillusionment about the war in his book, The Last Fighting Tommy, calling it ‘legalised mass murder’.
Click here to listen to a 2003 recording of Harry Patch talking about his memories of the First World War.
