"My subject is war and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity."
—Wilfred Owen
(Photo taken at
Berwick church, Sussex as part of anti-war mural)
Tomorrow the last remaining UK veteran of the first world war,
Harry Patch, will be buried in Wells Cathedral. The former plumber was conscripted into the army aged 18 and was the last remaining survivor of the battle of Passchendaele in 1917. I found it very moving that on returning from war, Patch didn't talk about his experiences for 80 years. He gave an interview in 1998, realising he was one of the last living links to the war.
While I was at school I became very interested in the poets of the first world war, and in particular Wilfred Owen — the quote above was stuck on my bedroom wall for many years. I am quite a militant pacifist (if there is such a thing) and I
appreciate this is a difficult point of view for a lot of people — certainly it has led to difficult conversations with friends over the
years but I'm sure that this interest in the first world war has instilled a deep belief in the pointlessness of war which has never gone away.
Thinking about the variety of different ways writers and artists have tried to communicate the horror of this war, I am always struck by the inadequacy of language to convey how horrific the experience must have been and the scale of losses suffered. The battle of Passchendale is a case in point: 325,000 allied casualties and over 260,000 Germans were killed. Over 99 days in battle, an average of 3,000 British troops were killed, wounded, or captured daily. (By contrast, in Iraq 4,330 US soldiers have been killed since the war started in 2003). In the end, the battle ended just five miles beyond the starting point. For me, that just doesn't seem like enough of a win.
One thing that struck a chord with me when I watched interview footage with Harry Patch as part of his
obituary, was the lack of animosity as he described how the Germans "suffered the same as we did" — full of humanity and compassion for those involved. And although I can vividly imagine Septimus Smith in Mrs Dalloway, Prior in Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, feel like I was wading through the mud with the horses in Warhorse and listen to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, there isn't anything quite like hearing from an ordinary man who was there.
Thom Yorke heard an emotional interview with Harry Patch on the Radio 4's Today programme which had profound effect on him. Radiohead wrote a tribute to Patch which has been released today on the
Radiohead website. It's available for £1 and all proceeds go to the Royal British Legion. On the Radiohead blog he 'hopes the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.' I think it does but it isn't for faint hearted; it had me crying into my peppermint tea on first listen. Harry Patch had 80 years to think of the way to describe his experiences and for me I cannot think of a better way to talk about it then these simple words.
Harry Patch (In Memory Of)
I am the only one that got through
The others died where ever they fell
It was an ambush
They came up from all sides
Give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
I've seen devils coming up from the ground
I've seen hell upon this earth
The next will be chemical but they will never learn
