Happy Birthday Henry Allingham. 111 years young!

[GASML]

Many happy returns to Henry Allingham, born June 6 1896 and still going strong.

Henry is now the sole surviving former RNAS airman and founder member of the RAF. He's just one of three surviving veterans of the Great War.


A little more on Henry on www.biggles-biplane.com

[Thomas Trauner]

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Allingham

Astonishing....

Thomas Tr.

[Major Major]

The first two medals are WWI campaign medals, and isn't the third one the MBE?

Also, Allingham is one of three WWI vets in Britain, but there are three more British vets in Australia and one in Canada, along with three Americans, one Canadian, and one German here. (And others in France, Italy, Germany.) Or perhaps four Americans, seeing as the one here in Louisville, Kentucky claims to have enlisted in 1918 while others say 1919.

[Graeme]

In order, left to right, the medals are the British War Medal, the British Victory Medal and the French Legion d'Honneur; the MBE ribbon is purple with a thin red vertical stripe in the centre. A revised statute of 30 July 1937 changed the ribbon to rose-pink, edged with pearl-grey for the Civil Division, a central narrow stripe of pearl-grey being added for the ribbon of the Military Division.

Graeme

[Yeoman]

To have survived the war at all is an achievement. to go on to live to that age and still be going strong is nothing short of astonishing.

Many happy returns !