WWI veteran Patch dies aged 111

The last British survivor of the World War I trenches, Harry Patch, has died at the age of 111.

Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army aged 18 and fought in the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British soldiers died.

He was raised in Combe Down, near Bath, and had been living at a care home in Wells, Somerset.

The only British survivor of World War I is now Claude Choules, who is aged 108 and lives in Perth, Australia Mr Choules, who is originally from Worcestershire, saw service with the Royal Navy.Henry Allingham, who served in the navy and the RAF in WWI, died at the age of 113 a week ago.

Mr Patch's biographer Richard Van Emden said he passed away at 0850 BST on Saturday morning.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "I had the honour of meeting Harry, and I share his family's grief at the passing of a great man."I know that the whole nation will unite today to honour the memory, and to take pride in the generation that fought the Great War."The noblest of all the generations has left us, but they will never be forgotten. We say today with still greater force - 'We will remember them'."

The Prince of Wales said nothing could give him greater pride than paying tribute to Mr Patch.

He told the BBC: "Harry was involved in numerous bouts of heavy fighting on the front line but amazingly remained unscathed for a while."Tragically one night in September 1917 when in the morass in the Ypres Salient a German shrapnel shell burst overhead badly wounding Harry and killing three of his closest friends.

-BBC