Think of all this 113 year old has seen

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UK's oldest man Allingham is 113

Henry Allingham's birthday cake was delivered by the Royal Marines
The UK's oldest man and one of Britain's two surviving WWI veterans has turned 113.

Henry Allingham joined the Royal Navy Air Service in September 1915 before transferring to the RAF in April 1918.
The Royal Navy hosted a birthday party on HMS President in London for his family, close friends and members of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

Mr Allingham, who lives in East Sussex, said he was looking forward to being a teenager again.

The birthday is another landmark for a man who is the last surviving founder member of the RAF and whose life has spanned three centuries and six monarchs.

He was born in Clapham, south London, but later moved to Sussex. He stayed in his Eastbourne home until the age of 110 when he moved to St Dunstan's care centre for blind ex-service personnel in Ovingdean, near Brighton.

'Unexpected honour'

After being given a warm welcome at his party by generations of his family, he posed for photographers and declared: "It's wonderful, I never expected this honour."

Asked the secret of his long life, Mr Allingham said: "I don't know, but I would say be as good as you possibly can."

Were he slightly younger I would be happy to have him back

Rear Admiral Simon Charlier
As he sat outside in his wheelchair, a Mark 8 Royal Navy Lynx helicopter flew overhead.

A birthday cake and card signed by the First Sea Lord was then delivered to Mr Allingham at the dockside by fast-raiding craft of the Royal Marines.

Rear Admiral Simon Charlier, the head of the Fleet Air Arm, led a champagne toast and a rendition of "Happy Birthday".

He said: "It is an absolute privilege to host this event. This year is the centenary of naval aviation and yet Henry goes back way before that.

'Very humbled'

"We are all over-awed by Henry's longevity, but also his spirit, his fun and humour encompasses everything about the Fleet Air Arm. Were he slightly younger I would be happy to have him back.

"He helped set the professional standards back in 1915 when he joined the Royal Naval Air Service, which was a pretty difficult time going into the First World War."


He has 14 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild
Among the guests was Mr Allingham's grandson Timothy Gray, 53, who had flown from Michigan for the party.

He said: "He is very humbled by all the attention he gets. I talked to his nurse and she said he stayed up late last night like a little kid on Christmas Eve talking about birthday cake.

"One of the best things I heard him say is that 'I'm looking forward to becoming a teenager again'."

Mr Allingham has five grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild.

In the past year Mr Allingham has been given a doctorate in engineering from Southampton Solent University, been made an honorary freeman of Brighton and Hove and become the "oldest scout".

In March, he was made an honorary member of the Royal Naval Association and also received an upgraded Legion d'Honneur in London, six years after receiving his first one.

Mr Allingham is the sole survivor of the Battle of Jutland and has also published his life story.

He became Britain's oldest ever man in March when he reached 112 years and 296 days, surpassing Welshman John Evans who died in 1990.

[VulcanDriver]

An amazing man. He was interviewed on UK TV news last night. I often wonder what the world will be like when (if) I reach my 90's. I look back the last 30 plus years and think of all the things we've developed. A computer in nearly every home, Internet, cell phones, iPods etc. My car has more computing power then the Apollo moon lander(!).

[sprocky]

I look back the last 30 plus years and think of all the things we've developed. A computer in nearly every home, Internet, cell phones, iPods etc. My car has more computing power then the Apollo moon lander(!).

Do not look at it only from the technical view. Face how many historical events he has seen: WWI, WWII, Cold War, Kennedy, Watergate, colonies becoming independent, Falkland War, Gorbachev's Perestroyka, German Reunification, growth of the EC, 9/11, etc.

[VulcanDriver]

Yes you are right Jan. Queen Victoria was still alive when he was a small boy!

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Royal tributes for oldest veteran

see Link...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8157447.stm



Obituary: Henry Allingham


The last surviving founding member of the RAF
Cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women was Henry Allingham's tongue in cheek recipe for his long life, which crossed over three centuries.

He was born in south London in June 1896 and brought up by his mother and grandparents following the death of his father, from TB, in 1897.

After leaving school he obtained a job as a trainee surgical instrument maker but quickly moved into the motor trade where he worked building car bodies.

In 1914 he tried to join the army as a despatch rider but his mother, who was ill, persuaded him to stay at home and nurse her.

She died a few months afterwards, age 42, and Henry, who later remembered feeling completely alone and with no purpose in life, joined the fledgling Royal Naval Air Service as a mechanic.

After his training he was posted to Great Yarmouth, where he maintained sea planes involved in anti submarine patrols in the North Sea and acted as an air gunner in operations to counter German Zeppelins.

He was drafted onto HM trawler Kingfisher which headed north, in May 1916, as part of the British force sent to intercept the German High Seas Fleet at Jutland.



The Battle of Jutland ended the threat of the German fleet
In what became the only major naval battle of the war, the British lost 14 ships and more than 6,000 lives, but the German fleet never again threatened to put to sea against the Royal Navy.

Allingham later recalled watching shells flying across the sea. "There were a lot of dud shells and that saved us from a lot of harm."

In 1917 he was posted to the Western Front where the RNAS was tasked with supporting squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps which was operating sorties over the battlefields of the Somme.

He found himself in the trenches where he was ordered to neutralise the booby trapped bombs left behind by the retreating German soldiers.

On the Western Front

He never forgot the conditions on the ground. He later recalled being up to his armpits in water with the smell of mud and rotting flesh all around him.

In November 1917 he was posted to an aircraft recovery depot at Dunkirk where he stayed for the remainder of the war. Even here, behind the lines, he was subject to German bombing raids and shellfire from the sea.

Six months later he was transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force after the merger of the RFC and the naval air service.

After his discharge from the RAF he went to work for the Ford Motor Company where he remained until he retired.

His engineering expertise was called into use again in World War II where he worked on a project designed to neutralise German magnetic mines.

Since 1918 he had buried his memories of the war, avoiding reunions and refusing to discuss the subject with his family.



He never forgot the sacrifice of his comrades who failed to return
But, in 2005, he was persuaded to unveil an RAF memorial in France and he decided it would have been disrespectful to his former comrades to refuse.

For the remainder of his life he was tireless in attending commemorative events, including the 90th anniversary of the Somme, and regularly spoke to schoolchildren about his wartime experiences.

On his visit to the Somme in 2006 he was asked how he wanted to be remembered. "I don't" he said, "I want to be forgotten. Remember the others."



See Link then click on "Navigation" items for Pictures an stories............


http://www.battle-of-jutland.com/