The last surviving original member of the RAF and purportedly the world's oldest man has just passed away. Only death could silence Henry Allingham.
He went to war as a teenager, helped keep flimsy aircraft flying, survived his wounds and came home from World War I to a long — very long — and fruitful life.
But only in his last years did he discover his true mission: to remind new generations of the sacrifices of the millions slaughtered in the trenches, killed in the air, or lost at sea in what Britons call the Great War.
Allingham, who died Saturday at the age of 113, attributed his remarkable longevity to "cigarettes, whiskey and wild, wild women."
As C51 would no doubt exclaim were he here, "I'll drink to that". Let us therefore raise a pint gentlemen and toast the long life of this good man.
Originally Registered January,2001 Member Number 3044
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Edmond Gwenn, "The Trouble With Harry"
CELEBRATING EIGHTEEN YEARS and over 20 MILLION VIEWS on SNAFU's HWH thread- April 2019