Memorial laid by ‘the last Tommy’ stolen in Belgium
A MEMORIAL paid for by the last British survivor of the First World War trenches has been stolen.
Harry Patch paid for the memorial stone, across the Steenbeek stream on the village of Langemarck in Belgium, which commemorated an attack by his battalion, the 7th battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.
Mr Patch, who died in 2009 aged 111, was the last surviving British soldier to have fought in the conflict, earning him the nickname ‘the Last Fighting Tommy’. He was present at the memorial’s unveiling in 2008.
Its dedication read: “This stone is erected to the memory of fallen comrades and to honour the courage, sacrifice and passing of the Great War generation. It is the gift of former Private and Lewis Gunner Harry Patch No 29295, C Company, 7th DCLI, the last surviving veteran to have served in the trenches of the Western Front.”
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) said it was “outraged” at the theft and welcomed a funding appeal to replace the memorial.
“Although a private memorial and not a CWGC ‘official’ site maintained by us, it was still an important and well visited location on the former Western Front,” a spokesman said.
“It beggars belief that someone would take a memorial to a man who typified the service and sacrifice of millions of young men during the First World War. Whomever has done so should be deeply ashamed.”
A crowdfunding appeal to replace the stone reached its target of €1,500 (£1,300) in less than five hours.