Bobby Robson died he was 76

Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson CBE ^[1] was an English footballer and, after retirement, manager of several European clubs and the England national football team.

(18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009)

His professional playing career as an inside-forward spanned nearly 20 years, during which he played for three clubs: Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, and, briefly, Vancouver. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals.

After his playing career he found success as both a club and international manager, winning league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup. His last management role was as a mentor to the manager of the Irish national football team.

Robson was created a Knight Bachelor in 2002, was inducted as a member of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003, and was the honorary president of Ipswich Town. From 1991 onwards he suffered recurrent medical problems with cancer, and in March 2008, put his name and efforts into the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, a cancer research charity. In August 2008, his lung cancer was confirmed to be terminal; he said: "My condition is described as static and has not altered since my last bout of chemotherapy...I am going to die sooner rather than later. But then everyone has to go sometime and I have enjoyed every minute". He died just under a year later.

Born in Sacriston, County Durham, Robson was the fourth of five sons of Philip and Lilian Robson (née Watt).^[2] When he was a few months old, Robson's family moved to the nearby village of Langley Park where his father was a coal miner. As a boy, he was often taken by his father to watch Newcastle United at St James' Park, requiring a bus ride or a walk of several miles.^[3][4][5] Robson describes Jackie Milburn and Len Shackleton as his childhood heroes.^[4] Both played for Newcastle in the inside-forward position, the position Robson would later assume during his playing career.

Robson attended Waterhouses Secondary Modern School but the headmaster did not allow the school football team to join a league.^[6] Instead, he began to play for Langley Park Juniors on Saturday mornings at the age of eleven, and by the time he was 15, he was representing the club at Under-18 level.^[7] Robson played football whenever he possibly could but also worked as an electrician's apprentice for the National Coal Board in the Langley Park colliery.^[8] In May 1950, Bill Dodgin, the Fulham manager made a personal visit to the Robson household to offer Bobby a professional contract. Despite being offered a contract by nearby Middlesbrough, the offer made by Dodgin was too attractive to turn down, so he signed for Fulham and moved to London,^[9][10][11] playing as a wing-half and inside-forward.^[12] Robson had also interested his beloved Newcastle, but he opted to join Fulham as, in his opinion, "Newcastle made no appreciable effort to secure [my] signature".^[10]

Bobby Robson was awarded a number of honours for his contributions to football. In 1990, at the end of his eight-year reign as England manager, he was awarded a CBE and in 2002, he was knighted; both awards were for services to football.^[135][136]

In 2002 (during his time as Newcastle manager), the 69-year-old Robson was awarded the freedom of Newcastle upon Tyne and the UEFA President's Award for 'services to football'.^[11][20] He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003 in recognition of his impact as a manager.^[137] Following his time as Newcastle United manager in 2005, Robson was made an Honorary Freeman of Newcastle,^[105] which, in his autobiography, he described as being "the proudest moment of my life".^[138]

Robson also won the 1992 Football Writers' Association Tribute Award for an outstanding contribution to the national game,^[139] and the 2001 British Sports Writers' Association Pat Besford Trophy for Outstanding Achievement.^[136] In 2005 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Sports Coach UK Awards,^[140] and was also awarded the Eircom International Personality of the Year in 2006.^[135] On 9 December 2007, Robson (74) was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year show in recognition of "his contribution as both player and manager in a career spanning more than half a century".^[141]

On 5 May 2008, during the 30th anniversary celebrations of Ipswich Town's 1978 FA Cup win, Robson was granted the Freedom of Ipswich by the Lady Mayor.^[142] On 8 December 2008, he earned another such accolade when he was given the Freedom of the City of Durham.^[143]

In March 2009, UEFA awarded Robson the Emerald UEFA Order of Merit award, awarded to "individuals who have dedicated their talents to the good of the game".^[144] The award was presented to Sir Bobby at St James' Park on 26 July 2009, prior to the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match, and just five days before his death. ^[145]

Naomi Ruth Sims died she was 61

Naomi Ruth Sims was an African American model, Naomi Sims, the first black supermodel, died of cancer Saturday in Newark at age 61, the New York Times reports.

Sims broke barriers when she made the cover of Ladies Home Journal in 1968 — becoming the first black model to do so on a mainstream women’s magazine

(March 30, 1948 - August 1, 2009)

Born in Oxford, Mississippi, the youngest of three daughters born to John and Elizabeth Sims. Her father was reportedly a porter. Her parents divorced shortly after she was born. Sims moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she attended Westinghouse High School. Due to her height, she was ostracized by many of her classmates. Sims credited her upbringing as a Catholic for helping to get her through adolescence.^{[citation needed]}

Sims began college at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She became one of the first successful black models while still in her teens, and achieved worldwide recognition from the late 1960s into the early 1970s, appearing on the covers of prestigious fashion and popular magazines. In 1968 she was the first black model to appear on the cover of Ladies' Home Journal ^[2]. She also appeared on the cover of the October 17, 1969 issue of Life magazine.^[3]

By 1972, Hollywood took an interest in her as a potential actress and offered her the title role in the movie Cleopatra Jones, but when Sims read the script, she was appalled by the racist portrayal of blacks in the movie and turned it down. Sims ultimately decided to go into the beauty business for herself. In 1973, she retired from modeling to start her own business which created a successful wig collection fashioned after the texture of relaxed black hair.

She authored several books on modeling, health, and beauty, including All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman, How to Be a Top Model and All About Success for the Black Woman, as well as an advice column for teenage girls in Right On! magazine.

She died of breast cancer on August 1, 2009, aged 61, in Newark, New Jersey. Her 1973 marriage to Michael Findlay ended in divorce in 1991. She is survived by her son, Bob Findlay, a granddaughter, and her elder sister, Betty Sims. Her eldest sister, Doris, died in 2008.^[1]

Corazon Aquino Former Philippine President died she was76

Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines, serving from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female president of the Philippines and Asia.

A self-proclaimed "plain housewife",^[2] Aquino was married to Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. (1932–1983), a leading figure in the political opposition against the autocratic rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. After her husband was assassinated upon his return from exile in the United States on August 21, 1983, Aquino, who had no prior political experience, became a focal point and unifying force of the opposition against Marcos. She was drafted to run against Marcos in the 1986 snap presidential elections. After Marcos was proclaimed the winner despite widespread reports of electoral fraud, Aquino was installed as President by the peaceful 1986 People Power Revolution.

(January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009)

Aquino's presidency saw the restoration of democratic institutions in the Philippines, through the enactment of a new Constitution which limited the powers of the presidency, restored the bicameral Congress, and renewed emphasis on civil liberties. Her administration was likewise hampered by several military coup attempts by disaffected members of the Philippine military which derailed a return to full political stability and economic development.

Aquino died on August 1, 2009 from colon cancer.

Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco was born to Jose Cojuangco of Tarlac and Demetria Sumulong of Antipolo, Rizal. She was the sixth of eight children in what was considered to be one of the richest Chinese-Mestizo families in the Philippines,^[3][4] in Tarlac.^[5] Her ancestry was one-eighth Tagalog from her maternal side, one-eighth Kapampangan and one-fourth Spanish from her paternal side, and half-Chinese from both maternal and paternal sides.^{[citation needed]}

She was sent to St. Scholastica's College in Manila where she finished grade school as class valedictorian in 1943. In 1946, she enrolled for a year in high school at the Assumption Convent in Manila. Later, she was sent to the United States to study in Kuba at the Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia, the Notre Dame Convent School in New York, and the College of Mount Saint Vincent, also in New York.^[3] Meanwhile, she worked as a volunteer in the 1948 United States presidential campaign of Republican Thomas Dewey against President Harry Truman.^[5] She studied Liberal Arts and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts in French Language, with a minor in Mathematics. She intended to become a math teacher and a language interpreter.

Aquino returned to the Philippines to study law at the Far Eastern University, owned by the family of the late Nicanor Reyes, Sr., who had been the father-in-law of her older sister Josephine. She gave up her law studies^[6] when in 1954, she married Benigno Servillano "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., the son of a former Speaker of the National Assembly. They had five children together: a son, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, who was elected to the Philippine Senate in 2007, and four daughters, Maria Elena A. Cruz, Aurora Corazon A. Abellada, Victoria Eliza A. Dee, and actress-television host Kristina Bernadette A. Yap. Aquino had initial difficulty adjusting to provincial life when she and her husband moved to Concepcion, Tarlac, in 1955, after her husband had been elected the town's mayor at the age of 22. The American-educated Aquino found herself bored in Concepcion, and welcomed the opportunity to have dinner with her husband inside the American military facility at nearby Clark Field.^[7]

A member of the Liberal Party, Aquino's husband rose to be governor of Tarlac, and was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1967. During her husband's political career, Aquino remained a housewife who helped raise the children and played hostess to her spouse's political allies who would frequent their Quezon City home.^[4] She would decline to join her husband on stage during campaign rallies, preferring instead to stand at the back of the audience in order to listen to him.^[7] Nonetheless, she was consulted upon on political matters by her husband, who valued her judgments enormously.^[4]

Benigno Aquino soon emerged as a leading critic of the government of President Ferdinand Marcos of the Nacionalista Party, and there was wide speculation that he would run in the 1973 presidential elections, Marcos then being term limited. However, Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972, and later abolished the 1935 Constitution, allowing him to remain in office. Aquino's husband was among those arrested at the onset of martial law, later being sentenced to death. During his incarceration, Aquino drew strength from prayer, attending daily mass and saying three rosaries a day.^[7] As a measure of sacrifice, she enjoined her children from attending parties, and she herself stopped going to the beauty salon or buying new clothes, until a priest advised her and her children to instead live as normal lives as possible.^[7]

In 1978, despite her initial opposition, Aquino's imprisoned husband decided to run the 1978 Batasang Pambansa elections. Aquino campaigned in behalf of her imprisoned husband and for the first time in her life, delivered a political speech,^[2][7] though she willingly relinquished having to speak in public when it emerged that her six-year old daughter Kris was more than willing to speak on stage.^[7]

In 1980, upon the intervention of United States President Jimmy Carter,^[2] Marcos allowed Senator Aquino and his family to leave for exile in the United States, where he sought medical treatment.^[3] The family settled in Boston, and Aquino would later call the next three years as the happiest days of her marriage.^[2] He returned without his family to the Philippines on August 21, 1983, only to be assassinated on a staircase leading to the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, which was later renamed in his honor. Corazon Aquino returned to the Philippines a few days later and led her husband's funeral rites, where more than two million people were estimated to have participated, the biggest funeral ever in Philippine history.^[2]

On March 24, 2008, the Aquino family announced that the former President had been diagnosed with colon cancer.^[54] While she had initially been informed by her doctors that she had only three months to live,^[55] Aquino pursued chemotherapy. In public remarks made on May 13, 2008, she announced that blood tests indicated that she was responding positively to the medical treatment.^[56]

By July 2009, Aquino was reported to be in a very serious condition and confined to Makati Medical Center due to loss of appetite.^[57] It was announced that Aquino and her family had decided to cease chemotherapy and other medical interventions.^[58][59]

pulmonary arrest after complications of colon cancer^[60] at the age of 76 on August 1, 2009, 3:18 a.m., at the Makati Medical Center.^[61] Aquino was diagnosed with the disease in March 2008 but kept up public appearances in 2009. A devout Catholic, she was a regular at weekend Catholic mass until shortly before being admitted to hospital in late June 2009.

"Our mother peacefully passed away at 3:18 a.m. (19:18 GMT Friday) of cardio-respiratory arrest," her son, Senator Benigno Aquino III, told reporters in Manila.^[62]

The Aquino children declined Malacañang Palace's offer of a state funeral after the government pulled out Aquino's security detail in July 2009 as her illness worsened. Every living Philippine president is entitled to a security detail. The government responded to the political fallout claiming that the pullout was a mere "bureaucratic lapse," where the tour of duty of the bodyguards "expired."^[63]

Reverend Ike died he was 74.

Reverend Ike, formally the Right Reverend Dr. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II , Th.B., D.Sc.L., Ph.D., founder and pastor of the Christ United Church, was an American minister and electronic evangelist based in New York City. Reverend Ike was of African American and Indonesian descent.

(June 1, 1935, Ridgeland, South Carolina - July 28, 2009, Los Angeles, California^[1])

He began his career as a teenage preacher and became assistant pastor at Bible Way Church in Ridgeland, South Carolina. After serving a stint in the Air Force as a Chaplain Service Specialist (a non-commissioned officer assigned to assist chaplains), he founded, successively, the United Church of Jesus Christ for All People in South Carolina, the United Christian Evangelistic Association in Boston, Massachusetts (which is still his main corporate entity), and the Christ Community United Church in New York City.

Reverend Ike's ministry reached its peak in the mid 1970s, when his weekly radio sermons were carried by hundreds of stations across the United States. He was still active as of 2007, with a presence on the Internet and a syndicated television program.

He fully restored and owned the Christ United Church "Palace Cathedral" in Manhattan's Washington Heights section, formerly the Loews 175th Street movie theatre (one of the grandest and most extravagant of the "Wonder Theaters" movie palaces of the 1920s; restoration included the seven-story high, twin chamber Robert Morton organ). The "Miracle Star of Faith," visible from the George Washington Bridge, now tops the cupola of the building. He was also the "chancellor" of the United Church Schools, which include the Science of Living Institute and Seminary (which awarded him the D.Sc.L.: Doctor of the Science of Living); the Business of Living Institute (home of Thinkonomics); and other educational projects. He also offered a large number of books, audio and video tapes and a magazine to followers.

The Reverend Mrs. Eula M. Dent Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Mrs. Ike”), B.A., M.A., D.Sc.L., his wife, served as Senior Co-Pastor, and his son, The Right Reverend Xavier Frederick Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Ike’s Son”), B.A., M.Sc.L, D.Sc.L., was his "Bishop Coadjutor."

Reverend Ike had his own personal style of “preaching prosperity” and it is purported that he influenced a succeeding generation of "prosperity teachers" such as E. Bernard Jordan and Neale Donald Walsch.

Ike also made a guest appearance on Hank Williams, Jr.'s late 1986 single "Mind Your Own Business", which was a Number One country hit.^[2]

Reverend Ike died on July 28, 2009 of a stroke. He was 74.

Merce Cunningham died he was 90

Mercier (Merce) Philip Cunningham died he 90. Cunningham was an American choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was also considered one of the greatest American dancers. A constant collaborator who has influenced artists across disciplines—including musicians John Cage and David Tudor, artists Robert Rauschenberg and Bruce Nauman, designer Romeo Gigli, and architect Benedetta Tagliabue—Cunningham’s impact extends beyond the dance world to the arts as a whole.

(April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009)

As a choreographer, teacher, and leader of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance. Many dancers who trained with Cunningham formed their own companies, and they include Paul Taylor, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Karole Armitage, Foofwa d’Immobilité, Kimberly Bartosik, and Jonah Bokaer.

In April 2009, Cunningham celebrated his 90th birthday with the premiere of a new work, Nearly Ninety, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. Also in 2009, the Cunningham Dance Foundation announced the Legacy Plan, a precedent-setting plan for the continuation of Cunningham’s work and the celebration and preservation of his artistic legacy.

Cunningham earned some of the highest honors bestowed in the arts, including the National Medal of Arts and the MacArthur Fellowship. He also received Japan's Praemium Imperiale, a British Laurence Olivier Award, and was named Officier of the Légion d'honneur in France.

Cunningham’s life and artistic vision have been the subject of numerous books, films, and exhibitions, and his works have been presented by groups including the Ballet of the Paris Opéra, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, White Oak Dance Project, and London's

Merce Cunningham was born in Centralia, Washington in 1919, the second of three sons. Both his brothers followed their father into the legal profession. Cunningham initially asked to attend dance school when he was ten years old, and received his first formal dance and theater training at the Cornish School (now Cornish College of the Arts) in Seattle, which he attended from 1937-1939. During this time, Martha Graham saw Cunningham dance and invited him to join her company.^[1]

In the fall of 1939, Cunningham moved to New York and began a six year career as a soloist in the company of Martha Graham. He presented his first solo concert in New York in April 1944 with composer John Cage, who became his life partner and frequent collaborator until Cage's death in 1992.

In the summer of 1953, as a teacher in residence at Black Mountain College, Cunningham formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as a forum to explore his new ideas on dance and the performing arts.

Over the course of his career, Cunningham choreographed more than 200 dances and over 800 “Events,” which are site-specific choreographic works. In addition to his role as choreographer, Cunningham performed as a dancer in his company into the early 1990s.

He continued to lead his dance company until his death, and presented a new work, Nearly Ninety, in April 2009, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, to mark his 90th birthday.^[2]

Cunningham lived in New York City, and was Artistic Director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Cunningham died peacefully in his home on July 26, 2009.^[3]

Johnson died he was 68

PHILADELPHIA -- Jim Johnson, whose attacking defenses helped the Philadelphia Eagles to one Super Bowl appearance and five NFC title games, has died. He was 68.

Johnson had taken a leave of absence from the team in May as he continued to battle a cancerous tumor on his spine. The Eagles announced his death on Tuesday afternoon.

A veteran of 22 years as an NFL assistant, Johnson was considered one of the top defensive minds in the league, known for complex schemes that confused opponents and pressured the quarterback from every angle. His defenses consistently ranked among the best in the league, including last season, when the Eagles finished third in total defense and fell one victory short of the Super Bowl.

From 2000-08, Johnson's Philadelphia defenses ranked second in the NFL in sacks (390). During his 10-year tenure, the Eagles made the playoffs seven times and he produced 26 Pro Bowl selections.

"This whole Eagles-Andy Reid regime here that's taken place wouldn't have been possible without Jim," said Andy Reid, who hired Johnson to be his defensive coordinator shortly after he got his first head coaching job with the Eagles in 1999.

"I'm not sure there's a person that I've met that isn't a Jim Johnson fan. He really represented everything this city is all about with his toughness and grit. That's the way he fought this cancer."

Eagles chairman Jeffrey Lurie praised Johnson for his leadership skills and the person he was.

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"For 10 years, Jim Johnson was an exceptional coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, but more importantly, he was an outstanding human being," Lurie said. "As an integral part of the Eagles family, Jim epitomized the traits of what a great coach should be -- a teacher, a leader, and a winner ... It was easy to feel close to him."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell echoed Lurie's sentiments.

"He was a teacher to many players both on and off the field and devoted his life to the game of football," Goodell said in a statement. "He had a positive influence on scores of young men, and leaves behind a wonderful legacy."

On Sunday, the Eagles announced that Sean McDermott would replace Johnson. In his first news conference as coordinator, McDermott gave full credit to Johnson.

"What haven't I learned from Jim?" McDermott said. "I don't think it would be fair to Jim, in this setting, to try and limit in one statement, one press conference, the effect that Jim has had on my life."

McDermott paid Johnson the ultimate compliment in describing the style of defense he wanted the Eagles to play: Johnson's style.

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"There is one thing I know, and that is that this system, it works," McDermott said. "Jim has spent a considerable amount of time in his coaching career researching and finding things that work and finding things that didn't work, quite frankly, and I'm going to respect that and we're going to build on that. From there, we'll add wrinkles."

Coaches across the league paid homage to Johnson's impact on their careers and the league.

"I loved Jim Johnson," said Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, an Eagles assistant for nine seasons with Johnson. "He had a special ability to bring out the best in people while getting you to see the best in yourself. He saw potential and developed it. He made me believe I could coach at this level. In football, he was a pioneering and brilliant strategist, changing the way defense is played in the NFL. For me, he was a father-type mentor, and above all, a cherished friend. He belongs in the Hall of Fame. I will miss him so much."

"He was a dear friend and a special person," said St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo, a member of the Eagles defensive staff under Johnson for eight seasons. "Our prayers and thoughts go out to his wife Vicki and their family. Jim meant the world to me, both personally and professionally. I am very blessed to have had the privilege to work for him and with him. The NFL has lost a good man."

New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin did not know Johnson, but admired him from afar.

"He was great to work with and for, and he had his priorities in order," Coughlin said. "His players loved to play for him and his coaches loved to coach with him. It is a sad day for the National Football League to lose somebody the quality of Jim Johnson. It is a sad note on which to start the season."

Johnson had been treated for melanoma in 2001.

In January, he complained of back pain and coached from the press box in the Eagles' playoff win over the New York Giants and in the loss to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC championship.

An MRI after the divisional playoff win against the Giants on Jan. 11 alerted doctors that something might be wrong. Following the Arizona loss, the team announced the cancer had returned and Johnson would undergo more treatments.

Johnson had recovered sufficiently to coach during the team's first post-draft minicamp in May. But he coached from a motorized scooter during practices and said he wasn't certain he'd be able to return for the season.

"Jim was tailor-made to coach in Philadelphia," said Denver Broncos safety Brian Dawkins, who played 10 seasons for Johnson in Philadelphia. "He was a tough coach who wasn't afraid to let you know how he was feeling, but at the same time, he cared about us deeply."

Johnson is survived by his wife, two children and four grandchildren.

Henry J. Patch died he was 111

Patch, who was conscripted to the Army at the age of 18, had no inclination to fight, much less to kill anyone

The death of Harry Patch leaves no known British survivors of those who fought in the trenches of the First World War. He was the last of the infantry soldiers — the “Tommies”, immortalised by Kipling — who fought and died in hundreds of thousands on the Western Front, at Gallipoli, in Mesopotamia and Palestine during the “war to end all wars”, but which led inexorably to the conflict of 1939-45. Until the passing of the Military Service Act of January 1916, the Army had relied on volunteers, including those of the Territorial Army, to swell the ranks of its small regular force. It was indeed so small by Continental standards that the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, dismissed it as Britain’s “contemptible little army”. By the close of 1915 a force of thirty-eight divisions was deployed on the Western Front, including those from Australia, Canada and New Zealand, but the casualties suffered during the 1915 offensives made it no longer possible for Britain to rely on volunteers. Conscription for unmarried men between 18 and 41, but excluding Ireland from where many volunteers had already come, began in January 1916. Patch was called up to join the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry at the age of eighteen and a half in December 1916.

By his own account, he would never have volunteered, having no inclination to fight, much less to kill anyone. Nevertheless, he proved a natural rifle shot and qualified for the coveted cross-rifles marksman badge by the end of his basic training. Such skill often led to selection as a sniper, but it seems that lacking the individual ruthlessness required Patch was assessed as best suited to be part of a team. He was trained on the American-designed Lewis machinegun, introduced into the British Army on a scale of two per battalion, increased to two per company and finally to one per platoon during the course of the war.

On going to France in 1917, Patch joined 7th DCLI as a reinforcement following the battalion’s serious losses in earlier fighting. Hearing a call for someone trained on the Lewis gun, a comrade volunteered Patch for the post. He consequently became the Number 2 of a Lewis gun team in ‘C’ Company. The team consisting of the Number 1 who fired the gun, No 2 who was the loader, and the remaining three who carried the ammunition to refill the 50-round circular magazines. The Number 1 would normally fire the gun but if he were wounded or killed the Number 2 was trained to take over.

As often happened, his first group of close friends remained the most prominent in his memory. Eighty years on, Patch would recall sharing a parcel from home with his gun team members: half the packet of Royal Seal tobacco to the only other pipesmoker, thirteen cigarettes each for the other three from the two packets of twenty and socks to the one who needed them most. Everything was shared without hesitation.

Fire from the Lewis gun was strictly controlled by the officer in charge of the stretch of trench where it was situated. This was to conserve ammunition and limit the chances of the enemy identifying the position from gun flashes and retaliate with artillery fire. Prolonged firing demanded a hasty move to a new position and overheating also presented difficulties. The gun was gas-operated, so that draughts of air were driven back between the barrel and the outer casing, but it would become too hot to touch after firing the hundred rounds from two magazines.

During the preliminary stage of the British advance in the Third Battle of Ypres, which began on July 31, 1917, Patch’s battalion took part in the attack on Pilckem Ridge, the scene of bitter fighting in the first autumn of the war. The 7th DCLI went over the top of their assault trenches with ‘A’ and ‘B’ companies leading and ‘C’ and ‘D’ companies following in immediate reserve. They ran forward over the dead and wounded of earlier waves of infantry lying in no-man’s land, but no time could be spared to help them.Patch’s Lewis gun team was struggling towards an enemy second-line trench when three German soldiers climbed out of it, one advancing on them with bayonet fixed. Guessing correctly that the man had used all his ammunition, Patch drew the Colt revolver the Number 2 carried and shot the man in the shoulder then, as he still came on, in the leg. As a good shot with the Colt, he could easily have killed him, but he chose to spare his life.

Six weeks later, after his battalion had been relieved in the line and was withdrawing at night to the support trenches, Patch lost the three supporting members of the Lewis gun team to a single shell burst, one of his comrades disappearing completely in the blast. He was wounded in the groin by shrapnel. For the rest of his long life Harry Patch held his own private day of remembrance recalling the three friends he lost on September 22, 1917.

He was evacuated to hospital in England and after recovery from his wound was sent to a reinforcement camp on the Isle of Wight to wait return to France. He and other soldiers awaiting drafting were on the rifle range on the morning of November 11, 1918. They had heard talk of a possible ceasefire in France and told that if an armistice was signed a rocket would be sent up from camp headquarters. Just after 11 o’clock they saw the rocket soar into the air, filling everyone with a huge sense of relief that they would not have to return to the trenches.

The countries of the then British Empire lost one million men in all the battlefields of the First World War, by far the largest proportion on the Western Front in Belgium and France. Of this awful figure, the bodies of approaching 500,000 either were never found or could not be identified. France lost 1,700,000 killed and Germany around two million.

To Patch and to the thousands who had lost family members in the war, the conflict was just a terrible waste of lives, provoking the question: “Could war have been avoided?”. The answer is probably “yes”, but placing the blame is more difficult. Austria’s ultimatum to Serbia, following the assassination of Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand, was uncompromising, but had the Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey made clear to France that Britain would stand by her only if she urged restraint on her treaty ally Russia, then Germany might have paused. Kaiser Wilhelm asked his army to slow down the rate of mobilisation against France but the Chief of Staff, von Moltke, argued this was impossible without upsetting the schedules of the 11,000 trains involved. Hence a vital signal for peace was not sent.

On demobilisation in early 1919, Henry John Patch returned to Bath, Somerset, where he had been born. He worked for the local Fire Service and was awarded the British Fire Services Association medal on retirement. Together with other surviving British veterans of the First World War, he was appointed to the Légion d’Honneur by the French Government in 1999 in recognition of his services to France in 1917.

He maintained his connections with his old regiment through the Light Infantry Regional Office in Cornwall until shortly before his death.

His wife Ada, née Billington, whom he married in 1919, predeceased him, as did their two sons.

Henry J. Patch, the last “Tommy” of the First World War, was born on June 17, 1898. He died on July 25, 2009, aged 111