World War I Vet and World's Oldest Man Dies

While the media this weekend was busy covering the loss of one of their own, news icon Walter Cronkite, there was another passing of note that went almost unnoticed - Britain's Henry Allingham.

At 113, Mr. Allingham was not only the oldest man in the world, but was one of the very few living veterans of World War I. Mr. Allingham was a founding member of Britain's Royal Air Force and was present at Jutland, the largest naval battle of World War I. What's perhaps most amazing is that for eight decades, Mr. Allingham, didn't talk at all about his wartime experiences, only becoming a public spokesman when there were few veterans left to talk about one of the turning points of the 20th Century.

Well into his 100s, Mr. Allingham would talk to schoolchildren about his experiences in the Great War, last November he attended a commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the war's end, and just last month he attended his 113th birthday party. He attributed his amazing longevity to "cigarettes, whiskey and wild, wild women," while his grandson said another secret was "not hanging around with old people."

The Guardian has a good article today about Mr. Allingham's life, it's well worth a read. With his passing, out of an estimated 65 million men who served during WWI, only four veterans are known to be still alive.