Obit

Claude Stanley Choules, Last WWI Combat Vet, Dies

Became a pacifist after 40 years of service.

The last known combat veteran from World War I has died. The British-born Claude Stanley Choules spent more than 40 years in the Royal Navy in England and Australia. He died in Australia at the age of 110. Like the last American World War I veteran, Frank Buckles, who died in February, Choules lied about his age to get into the military, joining the navy at 14 in 1915. He joined two older brothers who fought in the Gallipoli campaign, and witnessed the surrender of the German Imperial Navy and the scuttling of its fleet. Despite his long military service, Choules later became a pacifist. "There was definitely no glory in it from his point of view," his grandson said. "He firmly believed that war was a pure waste of time, resources, and human life."