The Queen, the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister Gordon Brown have led tributes to the last surviving British soldier of the First World War, who has died at the age of 111.
Harry Patch, known as the Last Tommy, passed away peacefully just before 9am on Saturday at Fletcher House nursing home in Wells, Somerset.
He had become Britain's oldest man when another veteran of the war, Henry Allingham, died a week ago on July 18 aged 113.
The only remaining known British-born veteran of the First World War is now Claude Choules, 108, who served in the Royal Navy and now lives in Perth, Australia.
Mr Patch, a machine-gunner, served in the trenches as a private from June to September 1917 and fought in the battle of Passchendaele in which more than 70,000 British troops died. He was born on June 17, 1898 and grew up in Combe Down, near Bath.
The Queen said: "I was saddened to hear of the death of Harry Patch, the last British survivor or the First World War. We will never forget the bravery and enormous sacrifice of his generation, which will continue to serve as an example to us all."
Prince Charles said nothing could give him greater pride than to pay tribute to Mr Patch. He told the BBC: "The Great War is a chapter in our history we must never forget, so many sacrifices were made, so many young lives lost.
"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.
"In spite of the comparatively short time that he served with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, Harry always cherished the extraordinary camaraderie that the appalling conditions engendered in the battalion and remained loyal to the end."
The Prime Minister said: "I know that the whole nation will unite 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'."
Source: Press Association
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