113-year-old World War I veteran Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man, died Saturday. He spent his final years reminding Great Britain about the 9 million soldiers killed during the "War to End All Wars."
Henry Allingham was the last surviving original member of the Royal Air Force (RAF), which was formed in 1918. Only a handful of World War I veterans remain alive. There were an estimated 68 million who participated in the conflict.
There are no French veterans left alive. The only living American-born veteran is Frank Woodruff Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia.
Henry Allingham joined the military after seeing a plane circling a reservoir in Essex, east of London. He wrote, in his memoir:
"It was a captivating sight. Fascinated, I sat down on the grass verge to watch the aircraft. I decided that was for me.
"To be honest, all the planes were so flimsy and unpredictable — as well as incapable of carrying large fuel loads — at the start of the war that both British and German pilots would immediately turn back rather than face each other in the skies if they did not enjoy height supremacy. But I remember getting back on the ground and just itching to take off again."
Allingham was both a mechanic and an observer who flew on the craft.
He also fought in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of World War I and served on the Western Front. During an attaack on an aircraft depot, he was wounded in the arm by shrapnel.
After the war he worked at the Ford motor factory and raised two children with his wife, Dorothy. She died in 1970. His daughter Jean died in 2001.
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