Last WWI Combat Vet Has Died

[Camerus]

The war ended when he was 17. Not exactly someone I would call a "vet". 

The article said he saw action and lied about his age in order to serve.  Exaggerating one's age in order to fight was pretty common in WW1 - heck, even my great-grandfather did it.

My great-grandfather was much much too old to serve in WW1 at 60. Woulda taken one hell of a lie. I don't even know if he was still alive in 1914. Now my grandfather's younger brother did serve in WW1...

Serve whom...?  Sweden?

[The Brain]

The war ended when he was 17. Not exactly someone I would call a "vet". 

The article said he saw action and lied about his age in order to serve.  Exaggerating one's age in order to fight was pretty common in WW1 - heck, even my great-grandfather did it.

My great-grandfather was much much too old to serve in WW1 at 60. Woulda taken one hell of a lie. I don't even know if he was still alive in 1914. Now my grandfather's younger brother did serve in WW1...

Serve whom...?  Sweden?

Imperial Germany and Finland. His is actually an interesting story that I once told on Old Languish, if you're interested I can give the executive summary.

[Camerus]

The war ended when he was 17. Not exactly someone I would call a "vet". 

The article said he saw action and lied about his age in order to serve.  Exaggerating one's age in order to fight was pretty common in WW1 - heck, even my great-grandfather did it.

My great-grandfather was much much too old to serve in WW1 at 60. Woulda taken one hell of a lie. I don't even know if he was still alive in 1914. Now my grandfather's younger brother did serve in WW1...

Serve whom...?  Sweden?

Imperial Germany and Finland. His is actually an interesting story that I once told on Old Languish, if you're interested I can give the executive summary.

Please.   

[The Brain]

The war ended when he was 17. Not exactly someone I would call a "vet". 

The article said he saw action and lied about his age in order to serve.  Exaggerating one's age in order to fight was pretty common in WW1 - heck, even my great-grandfather did it.

My great-grandfather was much much too old to serve in WW1 at 60. Woulda taken one hell of a lie. I don't even know if he was still alive in 1914. Now my grandfather's younger brother did serve in WW1...

Serve whom...?  Sweden?

Imperial Germany and Finland. His is actually an interesting story that I once told on Old Languish, if you're interested I can give the executive summary.

Please.   

My father's ancestors lived along the Torne river in northern Sweden. Since 1809 the river has marked the border between Sweden and Russia/Finland. The locals lived on both sides of the river with lots of movement between the countries. My grandfather happened to live on the Swedish side in 1914, his younger brother (they were 13 siblings in total IIRC) lived on the Finnish side (Finland was obviously a part of Russia at this time). Like most locals they spoke Finnish. WW1 was seen by Finnish nationalists as a chance to win independence. Russia had earlier disbanded the Finnish armed forces, so it was imperative that young Finns got military training. Just under 2,000 Finns left Finland and went to Germany where the Germans happily trained them and formed them into the 27th Prussian Jäger Battalion. My granduncle was one of those young Finns. Of course leaving the country in wartime to join the army of the enemy was slightly illegal so the trip had to be a bit hush-hush.

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_J%C3%A4ger_troops

They fought on the Russian front and later were shipped to Finland to fight on the White side in the Civil War. My relative was an NCO when they came back to Finland to fight under Mannerheim and quickly became a Captain. They won the Civil War (duh). The Jägers (as they were known afterwards regardless of which unit they were actually in) continued to form the hard core of the Finnish army through WW2. My granduncle was in the Winter War and Continuation War, survived but died of old age before I was born.

From what I've heard he didn't love Communists...

[katmai]

The brain is Finnish, man things make so much more sense now!

[The Brain]

I have always supported farism.

[Camerus]

Cool story, Brain.  :suomi:

[Agelastus]

On the subject of the thread...RIP.

And on the veteran issue? I think if he saw action as it says he did then it is rather crass to dispute whether or not he was a genuine veteran.

[alfred russel]

According to wiki he ended up on the Revenge in 1917, so he probably served somewhere between 10-22 months on a combat ship in and around a warzone. The article said he saw action. If that isn't enough time to qualify for "veteran" status, then a lot of people who are traditionally thought of as veterans, such the US western front troops that entered combat on D - Day or one tour vietnam veterans aren't either.