British combat, last living First World War veteran in the world From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Claude Choules (3 March 1901 – 5 May 2011)[1] was a British-Australian World War I veteran who served in the Royal Navy.
Claude Choules | |
---|---|
Nickname | Chuckles |
Allegiance | United Kingdom Australia |
Service/branch | Royal Navy Royal Australian Navy |
Years of service | 1916 – 1956 |
Rank | Acting Torpedo Officer, Fremantle Chief Demolition Officer |
Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
Born in Wyre Piddle, son of Harry & Madeline (née Winn), near Pershore, Worcestershire, Choules joined the Royal Navy as a young man in 1916, and served aboard the Naval Training Ship HMS Circe at Plymouth. In 1917, he joined the battleship HMS Revenge, which was the flagship of the First Battle Squadron. While serving aboard her, Choules witnessed the surrender of the German Imperial Navy at the Firth of Forth in 1918, ten days after the Armistice, and was also to witness the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow. During World War II, Choules was the Acting Torpedo Officer of Fremantle and also the Chief Demolition Officer on the western side of the Australian continent. He was tasked with sabotaging Fremantle harbors and related oil storage tanks in the event of a Japanese invasion.
He died on 5 May 2011 in Perth, Western Australia at 110 years old.
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