# "Last" World War I veteran dies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080 "2012-02-07T16:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/21 "2012-02-08T01:30:29Z")
WW1 is a big deal for us from downunder still - it very much represented a coming of age as a nation (remembering that New Zealand was amongst the hardest hit per capita in terms of casualties) One good movie would be Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, and if you are into reading a good play is Once On Chunuk Bair by Maurice Shadbolt (which I see has also been made into a movie) ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/22 "2012-02-08T01:39:54Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > WW1 is a big deal for us from downunder still - it very much represented a coming of age as a nation (remembering that New Zealand was amongst the hardest hit per capita in terms of casualties) > > One good movie would be Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, > > and if you are into reading a good play is Once On Chunuk Bair by Maurice Shadbolt (which I see has also been made into a movie) Now that you mention, ANZACs was a great tv series. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/23 "2012-02-08T01:40:08Z")
My Grandfather on my dad’s side fought in WWI against the German’s. My Father fought the Japanese. My mom’s brother Fought the Germans in WW2. I married into a German family. At some point somewhere during the 40’s one side of my family one possibly trying to kill the other side. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/24 "2012-02-08T01:51:09Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Speilberg’s recent _[War Horse](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568911/)_. Yep, or just watch the fourth season of Black Adder. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/25 "2012-02-08T01:57:59Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a WWI movie. [Lawrence of Arabia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056172/) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/26 "2012-02-08T02:56:35Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Ok, any realistic WW1 movies filmed in the last 50 years? A WWI version of Saving Private Ryan? [Joyeux Noel](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424205/) ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/27 "2012-02-08T02:58:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yep, or just watch the fourth season of Black Adder. The last scene in the last episode is some of the greatest television ever. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/28 "2012-02-08T04:27:19Z")
_Flyboys_ was a decent war movie. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/29 "2012-02-08T04:30:52Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Gallipoli > Lawrence of Arabia > The Blue Max > The Lighthorsemen Beneath Hill 60 The African Queen and arguably Dr Zhivago ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/30 "2012-02-08T04:49:38Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > …and arguably Dr Zhivago It overlaps WWI. [Nicholas and Alexandra](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067483/)would also qualify in that respect. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/31 "2012-02-08T05:16:08Z")
On a less documentary front, there’s [Deathwatch](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286306/), a fantasy horror film set in the trenches of WWI. Pretty good, actually. It has LotR’s Andy Serkis as a British soldier who’s been turned into an absolute psychopath by the war. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/32 "2012-02-08T11:54:17Z")
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles has some WWI episodes Brian ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/33 "2012-02-08T13:11:48Z")
Pity that the film documentary of Barbara Tuchman’s _The Guns Of August_ has never been released on DVD, I would pay top dollar for that. I’ll just have to buy a VHS and have it transfered. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/34 "2012-02-08T13:21:46Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles has some WWI episodes > > Brian Beaten by just over a hour. They are quite good though if you can find them. I’m not sure if they are on Netflix or not. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/35 "2012-02-08T14:27:09Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > WW1 is a big deal for us from downunder still - it very much represented a coming of age as a nation (remembering that New Zealand was amongst the hardest hit per capita in terms of casualties) Canada too. I’m not how we rated in terms of casualties but Vimy Ridge is a huge part of our coming of age as a nation story. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/36 "2012-02-08T17:52:54Z")
I wonder how much longer we have until the last WWII veteran goes? The youngest would have to be about 85 years old now. We should take advantage of the fact that some are still around and appreciate and learn from them while we can. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/37 "2012-02-08T17:58:39Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > I wonder how much longer we have until the last WWII veteran goes? The youngest would have to be about 85 years old now. We should take advantage of the fact that some are still around and appreciate and learn from them while we can. I think the WWII vets are pretty well appreciated, at least in the US. It’s America’s favorite war ever. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/38 "2012-02-10T05:42:17Z")
From the Canadian perspective, there’s [Passchendale](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1092082/), though I won’t attest to its quality one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/39 "2012-02-10T12:57:09Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > I wonder how much longer we have until the last WWII veteran goes? The youngest would have to be about 85 years old now. We should take advantage of the fact that some are still around and appreciate and learn from them while we can. The last WW2 vet will probably be a “Hitler Youth” who took part in the defense of Berlin. Does anybody know how young they could be? If such a boy was, say, 16 years old in 1945 then he’d be 83 now. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080/40 "2012-02-10T13:18:34Z")
The Dawn Patrol (there were a couple of versions made within a few years of each other) were good movies from the flying aspect. No disrespect to Ms Green, but I’m not sure that serving cups of tea a few hundred miles away makes you a veteran. Participant perhaps. Anyway, the generation is almost surely passed now. It is so difficult to put yourself into the minds of those young people who volunteered to fight in dreadful conditions when dying was a pretty large component. I’d never have had the backbone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-world-war-i-veteran-dies/612080.md?page=3)