Bill Stone, RIP
Monday, January 12, 2009 at 09:33PM BILL STONE, the last British veteran of both World Wars, has died aged 108.
A modest man, he chose to speak only rarely about the horrors he had seen, opting instead to focus on happier moments of his life. He was also mischievous, planting a kiss on Princess Anne's cheek when meeting her on one occasion, telling her: "When you're my age, you can get away with these things."
I see the old boy was still rattling the tin for the Royal British Legion up to when he was a mere 103.
Dennis Goodwin, secretary of the World War One Veterans Association, said Mr Stone endured an ongoing battle with chest problems. "He was always a battler," he said. "He has survived many of his skirmishes and has shown tremendous fight."
Bill Stone died at his residential home near Wokingham, Berkshire, with his daughter and son-in-law at his bedside.
The kind of quiet, stoic yet upbeat man who made his country great.
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Reader Comments (15)
If anyone really deserves to Rest in Peace after such long and worthy lives it is noble and great men like Bill Stone. I salute you Mr Stone.
Jeepers, that's some CV.
Nice one Pete, he was one of 4 surviving WWI Vets, and one of three who made this years 11/11 services.
RIP Mr Stone
Incredible: two world wars!
RIP, Bill.
What an incredible live and what memories (including dreadful ones he must have ammassed).
I remember as a child at remembrance service at home and the WWI veterans would lead the parade. Joan Wilson's father (Marie's grandfather) would be one of them. Sprightly despite having lost a leg. Every year my mother would remark "..and there are fewer of them every year, Bless them". Something that we will be saying about the WWII veterans more and more as time passes.
As most of the veterans from the WWI seemed to support the pardon for the "Shot at Dawns", I'm glad it happened before we lost them all.
RIP Bill
God knows - you've earned it!
He's earned his reward upstairs and no mistake. A double pity, for the tales he takes to the grave with him will never be repeated.
What a life, and a great man to lead it (also looks like a real nice gent, doesn't he?)
>>he chose to speak only rarely about the horrors he had seen, opting instead to focus on happier moments of his life. <<
I'm sure Bill was in the thick of things, but many witnesses of certain historic events are often bemused, or confused, by our questions and our modern perspectives and modern fascination with certain aspects of the event, simply aspects they may not have experienced strongly at the time. A lot of them find themselves bluffing and giving their audience what it wants to hear.
An army in war, for example, is a huge organisation, and some did not expience directly the horrors everyone now associates with it.
My father-in-law is a Serb nationalist, and Tito's Partisans are revered like gods in his home, He lived in Serbia though WWII yet is unable to tell a single interesting anecdote about it. As far as I can tell, he didn't even see a German soldier throughout the occupation!
I hope everything Bill had to say, no matter what it was, was recorded for us all.
Best of British,
Best of men.
A fascinating life, of that there can be no doubt.
RIP
I hope everything Bill had to say, no matter what it was, was recorded for us all.
A personal regret of mine is not recording, for posterity, my Grandmothers experiences during the war. Living off Bangors Ballyholme Esplinade she witnessed some extraordinary events. Nightly she would take a walk down to the beach to watch the air raids. Witnessing the Germans attempt to place mines in the Victoria Channel. Once she saw a Heinkel get hit by one of the Coastal Batteries. The plane made a slow descending turn towards the beach. It lost so much height that it came over Ballyholme at rooftop level. To her complete surprise, one of the Pilots, spotting her waved, as the plane made for the Irish sea and home. As a women of so few words I have absolutely no reason to doubt her. She gave shelter to convalescing soldiers at the nearby military hospital, giving them cups of tea and a warm fire to sit around. She even rememberedsome names, particularly Lofty from the North of England. He continually wrote letters, which stopped suddenly shortly after D-Day, she never heard from him again.
Her father was Asst Harbour Master for Belfast and during the buildup for D-Day he was completely immersed in the job of marshalling all the ships in Belfast Lough for the big off. She talked about the build up and how you couldnt see the water from Bangor to Whitehead. The US 6th Fleet dominated the view. One day she drove up to see her father and steal him for an hour during lunch. He had not seen the scale of the task he had been carrying out, as he lived fulltime at the Harbour, during this period. She drove him down to the coast to show him. Needless to say he was awestruck.
It was only in her last year that she really opened up about these times, and even then only to me. Though admittedly I was the only one asking. I was so happy and yet sad to hear the stories. She would fall silent for minutes and then begin telling a story with such lucidity, you could see that she wasnt just recalling a memory but that she was there.
RIP Bill. We will not forget.
An interview with Bill Stone from, I tyhink, three years ago was broadcast on the Today Programme this morning.
The man tried to join the Navy at fifteen only to be restrained by his father. He achieved his ambition (he said it was all he ever wanted to do) when he turned eighteen, following in the steps of two brothers who'd already signed up and another who'd enlisted in the Army.
(He'd been working from 6 in the morning to 6.30 iin the eveningas an agricultural labourer in Devon for half-a-crown a week.)
He served as a stoker and described having to wear fireproofed trousers (which, he said, stood up by themselves when he removed them) and a kind of casque on his head to protect against scalding overspill from steaming pipes which surrounded them down there in the furnace.
He was on the ill-fated H.M.S. Hood as well as at the evacuation of Dunkirk, his ship The Salamander rescuing 1,000 menon multiple trips back and forth. Mr.Stone said that this was the worst experience of his life.
As if this wasn't enough for any single individual he also served escorting the convoys to Russia as well as being present at the invasion of Sicily...
Requiescat in Pacem
We will not Forget.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Stone
link for hood bill stone