Today Claude Choules passed away at the age of 110 years. Claude was the last known combatant soldier of The Great War. To me, an event enters 'history' when the last person who can recall such an event first hand what the event happened. Often times the person doesn't realize the significance of what was going on, or necessarily aware of all the details of the event. However, having someone around who can recall firsthand 'what it was like' adds a bit of 'concreteness' to the event.
With the passing of Claude the world enters a stage where The Great War enters the history books from a combatant standpoint. There are still those throughout the world that lived during the time of The Great War, but with the passing of Claude comes a good time to introspectively review the lessons of The Great War, examine how their efforts shaped the world as it is today, and offer respect to those who fought what (at the time) was the greatest conflict of all time.
To all the veterans of WWI, Claude included, I sincerely mourn your passing.
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