Tea, cake and pipers at last Tommy's birthday

When Britain’s last Tommy, Harry Patch, celebrated his 111th birthday a little early on Saturday, some gifts had a special resonance.

The Belgian Ambassador was among those sending his good wishes to the last survivor of the brutal warfare on the Western Front in World War I.

They included books, and a box of Belgian chocolate biscuits.

 A year ago on his 110th birthday – June 17 – the Ambassador, Jean-Michel Verenneman de Watervliet, presented Mr Patch with Belgium’s highest military accolade. The Knights of Leopold medal was bestowed by the King of Belgium in recognition not only of Mr Patch’s participation in the bloody battle of Passchendaele, but also of his support for the people of Belgium in the years that followed.

Mr Patch, of Wells, was seriously injured, and lost his three best friends mates in the battle, when he was just 19, and did not speak about the war for 80 years.

 Since then he has spoken many times, with pain, of the horrors and waste of war, has met the last German survivor of the trenches, and has become an icon for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. He has donated proceeds from his memoirs, The Last Fighting Tommy, to the appeal, and to help provide a new boat for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

On Saturday, the Ambassador wrote to Mr Patch: “I hope this year will be an equally joyous occasion as last year’s celebration.”

 The Avon Glen Pipe and Drums Band played as Mr Patch’s family and friends gathered in the sunny garden at Fletcher House, the care home where he lives.

 The veteran, who was also made an Officer of the French Legion d’honneur earlier this year, along with Henry Allingham, Britain’s only other World War I survivor, was lost in thought as the band played Amazing Grace. Among those helping Mr Patch celebrate with his favourite strawberry tea was David Tucker, a great-nephew, from Devizes, who only realised that Mr Patch must be his great-uncle five years ago.

 “The family lost touch, and then one day someone was telling me about him, and I realised that I knew the stories he was telling and that he was talking about my grandfather’s brother” said Mr Tucker. “He hasn’t changed in the last five years but I know the pressures weigh fairly heavily on him sometimes.”

Children from Clyst Vale Community College, Broadclyst, Exeter, who have got to know Mr Patch through their history lessons, had baked cakes and sent handmade cards for the celebration.