Radiohead releases tribute to First World War veteran
Last Updated: Thursday, August 6, 2009 | 11:22 AM ET
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Harry Patch, the last-surviving British army veteran from the First World War, has died at the age of 111. The funeral for the former soldier, who is seen here on Nov. 11, 2008, was held Thursday. (Don McCullin/Ministry of Defence/Reuters)As Britain honoured its last-surviving army veteran of the First World War on Thursday, the band Radiohead has also released a tribute to the late soldier.
The funeral for Harry Patch — the last-surviving British soldier to fight in the trenches during the First World War — took place Thursday at Wells Cathedral in Somerset, west of London. Patch died on July 25 at age 111.
Recently, Radiohead completed work on a haunting song that frontman Thom Yorke said he was inspired to write after hearing a radio interview with Patch.
"The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me," Yorke said, according to Agence France-Presse.
"It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death."
The band is offering the track, Harry Patch (In Memory Of), as a digital download. All proceeds from the sale of the song will go to the Royal British Legion, which supports current and former members of the British armed forces.
Patch, who was wounded at Passchendaele in 1917, didn't discuss his wartime experiences until his 100th birthday. He published the book The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches and spoke out passionately against war.
"It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us," Yorke said.
"I hope we do not forget."
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