Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Death of World War I's Last Combatant, Claude Choules-- Part 2

Mr. Choules' two older brothers, Henry and Douglas, and sister emigrated to Australia where they joined the Australian Army, surviving fighting at Gallipoli and France.

In 1925, as a leading torpedo man, Claude Choules was seconded to the Australian Navy. He took the steamship Diogenes to his new home and along the way, fell in love with a children's nurse, Ethel Wildgoose from Scotland. The two married soon after reaching Melbourne on December 3, 1926.

The Australian Navy sent him back to England for training on the new heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra being built there. His new wife accompanied him and their first daughter, Daphne, was born in Portsmouth.

In 1931, Choules was briefly discharged from the navy, but joined the reserves and served two short stints on the cruisers Canberra and Australia. he reenlisted in 1932 as chief petty officer torpedo instructor and trained sailors for nine years.

During World War II, he was chief demolition officer on Australia's west coast. As such, he investigated the first object to wash ashore which proved to be a dummy mine from the German raiser Orion.

The Last of Another Great Generation. --Cooter

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