Harry Patch

Harry Patch
Patch, aged 109, in 2007
Birth name	Henry John Patch
Born	(1898-06-17)17 June 1898 Combe Down, Somerset, England
Died	(2009-07-25)25 July 2009 (aged 111 years, 38 days) Wells, Somerset, England
Buried	St Michael's Church, Monkton Combe
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army British Expeditionary Force
Years of service	1916–1918
Rank	Lance corporal Private (after demotion)
Service number	29295
Unit	Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
Battles / wars	First World War Western Front Battle of Passchendaele  (WIA)
Awards	See medals
Spouse(s)	Ada Billington (m. 1919; d. 1976) Kathleen Joy (m. 1982; d. 1989) Doris Whittaker (1998; d. 2007)
Children	2

Henry John Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the world's last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War.^[1] Patch was not the longest-surviving soldier of the First World War, but he was the fifth-longest-surviving veteran of any sort from the First World War, behind British veterans Claude Choules and Florence Green, Frank Buckles of the United States and John Babcock of Canada.^[2] At the time of his death, aged 111 years and 38 days, Patch was the third-oldest man in the world, behind Walter Breuning and Jiroemon Kimura.