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Milunka Savic (1888 - 1973) was a Serbian woman war hero from The First World War, recognized as the most-decorated female combatant in the entire history of warfare. She was wounded no less than nine times during her term-of-service. She was born in a village known as Koprivnica near Raška, Serbia in 1888. In 1913, her brother received call-up papers for mobilization this, in the war between Serbia and Bulgaria. She elected to go in his place - donning men’s clothes and joining the Serb Army. She quickly saw action and received her first medal and was promoted to Corporal...

BELGRADE -- A ceremony for the anniversary of Armistice Day in World War I was held at the New Cemetery in Belgrade. British, Russian, German and French ambassadors attend the ceremony (Beta) The anniversary was organized with high state and military honors and the laying of wreaths at a memorial dedicated to the World War I liberators of Belgrade, and the ceremony was attended by Culture Minister Nebojša Bradich. The minister noted in his address that on this day in 1918 World War I ended, adding that “the curtain fell on the butchering of many people, especially Serbs.” “91 years...

PARIS (AFP) – Former foes France and Germany held a joint World War I Armistice Day ceremony for the first time as events around the globe Wednesday honoured the millions killed in the conflict. President Barack Obama, speaking at a ceremony in the United States, hailed "the brave men and women of this young nation, generations of them, who above all else believed in and fought for a set of ideals." In London, Queen Elizabeth II led tributes to the war dead, including the growing number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. But the last British veteran of the 1914-18 conflict...

The Queen today lead the annual ceremony for Britain's war dead in the first Remembrance Sunday not attended by any veterans of World War I. As Big Ben chimed 11am, the queen joined thousands of troops, veterans and civilians in the traditional two-minute silence. The silence was broken by a single artillery blast and the sound of the Royal Marine buglers playing the 'Last Post'. Each year, thousands of poppies are placed in the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey to remember all those killed by the war. This year the field also has plots dedicated to those killed in...

'A BOY aged just TWELVE fought as a British Tommy in the First World War, The Sun can reveal today. The lad - said to have been so tiny he could not even see over the edge of a trench - is the youngest known soldier to have served in the horrific 1914-18 conflict. He was recalled by another under-age squaddie, runaway George Maher, who was only 13 when he was sent to the notorious Somme battlefield.'.

Many years ago, I went to the Central Lobby of the Houses of Parliament in London to keep an appointment with the almost picturesquely reactionary Conservative politician Alan Clark. He was the son of Kenneth (later Lord) Clark—the art historian and author of the Civilisation series—and the heir to Saltwood Castle, in Kent. He was also the author of a 1961 book, The Donkeys, which was a history of the British General Staff in the First World War. The title came from a famous comment that had supposedly been made at that epoch by a German military strategist. Told by...

Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark peace accord on Saturday to restore ties and open their shared border after a century of hostility stemming from the First World War mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces. But in an indication of the many pitfalls that lie ahead of its implementation, the ceremony was marred by a three-hour delay due to last-minute disagreements on statements, forcing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to engage in intense discussions to salvage a deal. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian signed the Swiss-mediated deal in Zurich at a ceremony...

Monument of the Unknown Hero / Mt. Avala, Serbia CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER II LAYS WREATH AT THE MONUMENT OF THE UNKNOWN HERO ON AVALA MOUNTAIN IN SERBIA Belgrade, 15 September 2009 – His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander II laid a wreath at the Monument of the Unknown Hero on Avala Mountain near Belgrade, for the September 15th anniversary of the breach of the Thessaloniki (Salonika) Front in 1918. A traditional ceremony with military honours was organized by the Association of Descendants of Serbian Warriors 1912 – 1920, and besides HRH Crown Prince Alexander II, wreaths were also laid by:...

Monument to the heroes of Cer in Serbia De-Construct.net August 23, 2009 On August 23rd, 2009, In the midst of ceremonies marking the 95-year anniversary of the Battle of Cer [pronounced Tser], the first Allied victory of WWI, the archpriest of the Serbian Šabac Diocese announced the building of a church dedicated to the fallen heroes of the First World War and to the glorious Serb-Russian saint, St. John the Wonderworker. “We shall do everything to make sure the Cer heroes finally have their own church. Back in 1939, the reserve officers from this region collected money and received permission...

Friends remember last survivor of the trenches, who died last month at the age of 111, in service at Wells cathedral... They said it many different ways, but the message was essentially the same. In most respects, Henry John "Harry" Patch was an ordinary man...But just about everyone who attended Patch's funeral service in the cathedral city of Wells today also seemed to agree that, somehow, he had become something quite extraordinary. It was not just that he became the last man to remember, first hand, the horrors of the first world war trenches, but also that he became both...

'These are the extraordinary pictures of the Statue of Liberty and icons of U.S. history captured on camera by an ingenious British photographer - using up to 30,000 soldiers. Englishman Arthur S. Mole took the pictures of soldiers returning to America after World War I. Now the unique collection of the remarkable pictures has been brought together for the first time at the Carl Hammer Gallery, in Chicago, USA.'

Two of the last British survivors of World War I have died. Henry Allingham's funeral takes place today, with the funeral of Harry Patch to follow next week. To mark the occasion, we asked Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, to write a poem.

A fly-past of replica planes was held to mark the passing of Britain's oldest World War I veteran this afternoon. Hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects to the world's oldest man and British war hero Henry Allingham. The 113-year-old died peacefully in his sleep on July 18 at his care home St Dunstan's, near Brighton. Mr Allingham, who served in the Royal Navy and RAF, was laid to rest with full military honours at a service at St Nicholas's Church in Brighton. As this afternoon's service began, crowds broke into spontaneous applause as his Union Flag-draped...

Here is a video report on the death of Harry Patch, the last known British World War I veteran. Patch died today at the age of 111. He fought in the ghastly trench warfare that was the trademark of World War I fighting. Below is a video describing what it was like in the trenches . . . . . . (Watch Videos)

Harry Patch, the last British army veteran of World War I, has died at 111, the nursing home where he lived said Saturday. The Fletcher House care home in Wells, southwest England, said Patch died early Saturday. "He just quietly slipped away at 9 a.m. this morning," said care home manager Andrew Larpent. "It was how he would have wanted it, without having to be moved to hospitals but here, peacefully with his friends and carers." Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the whole country would mourn "the passing of a great man." "The noblest of all the generations has left...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Harry Patch -- the last surviving British soldier from World War I -- died Saturday at the age of 111, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. Patch died peacefully at his care home in the southwestern English city of Wells, the ministry announced. His death came a week after fellow British World War I veteran Henry Allingham died at the age of 113. Patch was the last surviving soldier to have witnessed the horrors of trench warfare in the first World War He fought and was seriously wounded in Ypres, Belgium, in 1917 at the Battle of...

The last British survivor of the World War I trenches, Harry Patch, has died at the age of 111. Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army aged 18 and fought in the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British soldiers died. He was raised in Coombe Down, near Bath, and had been living at a care home in Wells, Somerset. The oldest WWI veteran Henry Allingham, who served in the Royal Navy and the RAF, died at the age of 113 a week ago.

Oldest WWI veteran dies aged 113 Henry Allingham was the last surviving founding member of the RAF Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and one of the last surviving World War I servicemen, has died at the age of 113, his care home has said. Mr Allingham served with the Royal Naval Air Service in WWI, later transferring to the Royal Air Force at the time of its creation. Bosses at his Brighton care home said everybody was "saddened by Henry's loss and our sympathy goes to his family". Last month, Mr Allingham, born in 1896, became the world's oldest...

Britain's last Tommy, Harry Patch, has celebrated his 111th birthday - with a strawberry tea and a band of pipers. Mr Patch was a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and fought during the Battle of Passchendaele, in Ypres, which claimed the lives of more than 70,000 soldiers. He served in the trenches as a private from June to September 1917 when he was seriously injured by a shell explosion which killed three of his friends. The Belgian Ambassador is among those who has sent birthday wishes to Mr Patch. His actual birthday is on Wednesday June 17...

'The oldest survivor of the First World War, Henry Allingham, is celebrating his 113th birthday with a party organised by the Royal Navy. The veteran soldier also holds the record as the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service and the last surviving founding member of the Royal Air Force. The Royal Navy and the RAF take it in turns to host Mr Allingham's party and this year it is being held at HMS President, a building overlooking the River Thames, near London's Tower Bridge'.

The oldest survivor of the First World War, Henry Allingham, is celebrating his 113th birthday with a party organised by the Royal Navy. The veteran soldier also holds the record as the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service and the last surviving founding member of the Royal Air Force.

AUSTRALIA'S oldest man and last remaining World War I digger Jack Ross has died, aged 110. Mr Ross died peacefully in his sleep at the Golden Oaks Nursing Home in the central Victorian city of Bendigo about 4am (AEST) this morning. Mr Ross turned 110 on March 9 this year. As an 18-year-old Mr Ross enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January, 1918 and trained at the wireless training school before he was posted to the 1st Battalion at Broadmeadows camp in Victoria. But the war ended before he could be posted overseas and he was demobilised on Christmas...

A popular wartime (and indeed thereafter) song, Don't Bite the Hand That's Feeding You, words by Thomas Hoier and music by Jimmie Morgan in 1915. Recorded on Edison Records by Walter Van Brunt aka ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay_Z5adiMG8

In September 1918, though told they were headed to France, the soldiers in company M 339th Infantry were shipped from Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan, to the bitter cold Archangel, Russia. The R.E.F (Russian Expeditionary Force), later referred to as “The Polar Bears,” went to battle in a desolate, frozen land. They were left to fight eight months after World War I had ended, and became one of the most highly decorated regiments in all the war. These men will be remembered in a documentary film, “Voices of a Never Ending Dawn,” which premieres this Memorial weekend in southern...

ANZAC Day is a national remembrance day in Australia and is celebrated annually on April 25th, to remember members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought bravely at Gallipoli, Turkey during the First World War. ANZAC Day also commemorates all those who made the ultimate sacrifice and served in military operations for Australia. The Serbian Community in Sydney, Australia has attended and made a strong presence in the national ANZAC Day commemoration services since 1956 by attending the Sydney March. Throughout all capital cities within Australia, grand children and great grandchildren of Serbian Chetnik soldiers along with...

My brother from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan called me, somebody he knows found a Gideon New Testament in or near a little town called Homestead in Wisconsin. (Maybe it was an entire Bible, I'm not sure.) Written in it was "Samuel C. Peaslee, Dubuque, IA, American Expeditionary Force, France, 1918" I have no idea if it's proper to post this here. After my initial internet searches found that there were numerous Peaslees in Iowa, I renewed my old membership on ancestry.com to see if any descendants could be located. I did find what apparently was a father and son...

"WE have not forgotten the Australians." That is the simple message of Pauline Lefebore, 10, who beams with pride as she tells how she and her classmates in a French village are keeping a promise made long before they were born. Pauline and the 130 other children at the school in Villers-Bretonneux are raising money for children affected by Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires. "You always have to keep your promises," said Pauline's friend, Cecile Przewrocka. This promise was made by their grandparents, and it is still written above the blackboard in the class of Chantal Macrez and every other teacher...

Army News videos: Historian explains battle of Passchendaele, Part 1Historian explains battle of Passchendaele, Part 2Thursday, April 23, 2009 Ottawa, ON – Norman Leach discusses the bravery and strategy of WWI Canadian soldiers.

William "Bill" Stone died aged 108 on 10 January at a care home in Berkshire. Mr Stone joined the Royal Navy on his birthday in 1918 and served on ships during both world wars, until 1945. Originally from Devon, he lived in Watlington, Oxfordshire, for many years and his funeral was being held there at St Leonard's parish church. Mr Stone was the last remaining Royal Navy veteran of World War I. In November he lead the nation's remembrance at the Cenotaph in London along with two of only three surviving fellow WWI British veterans, 112-year-old Henry Allingham and 110-year...

'One of only four surviving British veterans of World War I has died at the age of 108. William Stone, from Watlington in Oxfordshire, was the last British serviceman to have seen active duty in both world wars. Mr Stone, who was known as Bill, joined the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday in September 1918 and served on HMS Tiger. In 2004 he was presented with the National Veterans' Badge. He died at a care home in Sindlesham, Berkshire.'

British, Afghan and coalition forces battled the Taliban at close quarters, knee-deep in mud, over Christmas in fierce trench battles reminiscent of the First World War, it has emerged. The offensive in Afghanistan's central Helmand province involved more than 1,500 troops and was one of the largest operations mounted by Royal Marines since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. It was fought over 18 days around the town of Nad-e-Ali to capture four key Taliban strongholds. Some of the Royal Marines taking part trudged more than 60km through mud with packs on their backs...

Just before 7:30 a.m., a dozen St. Helena High School students gathered for their first class of the day, a good hour before their peers showed up for school. Coffee in hand, the students were studying World War I. It's likely the only elective course of its kind in a U.S. high school - focusing on the so-called War to End All Wars, a conflict quickly covered in regular history classes and left in the historical dust of World War II. "It gets kind of forgotten and glossed over," said Webster Rasmussen, 16, looking surprisingly alert at 7:30 a.m. World...

What if they called a war and peace broke out instead? That's exactly what happened during the Christmas season of 1914 when the soldiers themselves called a truce and, had it not been for intervention by the higher authorities on both sides, World War I might have ended. Stanley Weintraub does an excellent job of preserving for posterity this remarkable wartime truce in his book  Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, and much of what follows is derived from that valuable source. The truce came as no surprise, Weintraub explains, as there were early indications...

90 years to the day after 11/11. 11:11, the second which officially ended World War I. For the first time not one member of the two huge armies, German and French, that clashed on the fields of Verdun , attendeded Armistice Day service in Verdun, and paid tribute to those who had died, as the last 4 survivors of World War I are all British. Earlier in London, three of the four surviving British World War I veterans attended a ceremony at the Cenotaph.Henry Allingham, 112, Harry Patch, 110, and Bill Stone, 108, represented the Royal Air Force, Army and...

Photographer David DeJonge plans to capture a vanishing bit of history Tuesday on a trip to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington. There, he hopes to photograph 107-year-old Frank Buckles, one of the few men still alive who fought in World War I. Buckles will lay a wreath at the grave of Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, who led U.S. forces in Europe in World War I. The visit comes 90 years to the day after the end of World War I, an occasion that led to Veterans Day in the United States and Armistice Day in other nations. For...

"11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 1918. In remembrance of all those that died in the Great War. Some thought provoking facts and towards the end, a role call for some of those nations that took part in what was the most brutal and unforgiving conflict ever. The UK only has 3 surviving WW1 vets."

The guns fell silent 90 years ago today. Between the time that the terms of the Armistice were signed in the predawn hours of November 11, 1918 and the moment it came into effect at 11 o'clock that morning, the Western Front registered as many as 11,000 casualties, including a conservatively estimated 320 Americans killed and 3,200 wounded.Snip

He is the most pilloried military leader in British history, caricatured as a butcher and a bungler who sent hundreds of thousands of men over the top to their deaths. Now a new biography pins a further damning indictment on Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. Late in the final year of the First World War, it argues, he was pushing for a peace that would have left Germany as the real winner of the war. According to Dr J. P. Harris, senior lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Haig was not quite the uncaring monster of...

THE bravery, loyalty and endurance of Australian service personnel was honoured around the country today at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, and as the world marked 90 years since the end of World War I. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gathered with about 3000 people in Canberra to remember the more than 102,000 Australian servicemen and women who have died in war. Mr Rudd said that despite the mass casualties suffered in World War I and World War II, the world remained in conflict. "War has continued and the innocent continue to die causing us...

Monday, Nov. 11, 1918, dawned chill and cloudy over western Belgium, with the promise of cold rain later in the day. ... Early that Monday, messages began arriving at Canadian headquarters at all levels by radio, telegram, phone or even messenger. “Hostilities will cease at 1100 hours Nov. 11. Troops will stand fast on the line reached at that hour, which will be reported to Corps H.Q. Defensive precautions will be maintained. There will be no intercourse of any description with the enemy. Further instructions follow.� ... ... A nation of about eight million had lost a staggering 68,000 killed...

  Last female veteran of the First World War dies aged 109 Last updated at 20:19pm on 29.08.08    Gladys Powers, 109, died this month in Canada. She was thought to be the last female veteran from WW1. The last female First World War veteran has died aged 109.British-born Gladys Powers died at her home in British Columbia, Canada, on August 14, the Ministry of Defence said.She was born in Lewisham, south London and joined the Women's Auxiliary Corps aged 15, after fibbing about her age and later served with the Women's RAF.  All but a few of the...

58 years later, records unsealed in Rosenberg spy case After 58 years, historians and journalists will have a chance to examine the secret grand jury testimony of witnesses in the espionage case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The couple was investigated in 1950, tried in 1951 for conspiracy to commit espionage and convicted and sentenced to death in 1953. Cold War scholars are hoping the grand jury transcripts will shed light on some nagging questions about the case -- primarily, just how strong the case was against Ethel Rosenberg. The National Security Archive, the American Historical Association, the Georgetown University...

American entrepreneur Gregg Bemis finally gets courts go-ahead to explore the wreck off IrelandIt is the best known shipwreck lying on the Irish seabed, but it is only today that the owner of the Lusitania will finally begin the first extensive visual documentation of the luxury liner that sank 93 years ago. Gregg Bemis, who bought the remains of the vessel for £1,000 from former partners in a diving business in 1968, has been granted an imaging licence by the Department of the Environment. This allows him to photograph and film the entire structure, and should allow him to produce...

Oldest female WW I veteran recounts her serviceWednesday, July 02, 2008Project Number:08-0333 Gladys Power, at 109 years old, is the last known woman who served in the First World War. She salutes all the troops overseas. Abbotsford, British Columbia – At age109 Gladys Power is a remarkable lady. With the First World war raging in Europe, everyone wanted to lend a hand and Gladys Power was no different. Fifteen years old and living in England in the summer of 1915, she lied about her age and signed up with the Women´s Auxiliary Army. At the time both men and women...

Professor John P. Maher reviews "July 1914: Soldiers, Statesmen, and the Coming of the Great War: A Brief Documentary History." Edited by Samuel R. Williamson and Russel Van Wyk. 2003. Bedford / St Martin's Press. A commonplace in recent books on the Balkans is to draw parallels between 1990s Serbia and the Third Reich. Williamson and Van Wyk confirm the consensus view that that Germany and Austria-Hungary started the Great War, but fail to pursue another parallel. They say nothing about activities of Germany and Austria in the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. But policy and press in those...

The oldest surviving veteran of World War I's trench warfare is celebrating his 110th birthday. Harry Patch, who was born in Combe Down, Somerset, was a plumber by trade before being called up. He was a private at the Battle of Passchendaele. A party is planned at the care home in Wells, where he now lives. Mr Patch attributes his long life to clean living, avoiding what he describes as the "three sins" of smoking, drinking and gambling. "For many years in Shropshire, I lived quite close to the Welsh mountains," he said. "Fresh air, no petrol and no cars,...

Should the Stars In Your Service Flag Turn To Gold (1918) lyrics by Dora F. Hendricks music by Charles H. Gabriel MIDI sequence os002.mid by John McDonnellShould the stars in your service flag turn to gold, If from somewhere in France comes the message you fear, Should the anguish of death on your heart be rolled, Creep close to God and you will hear His great heart throbbing, as soft and low He whispers: "Child, I know, I know! "Your very best for the world you've done: "I, also, gave my beloved Son, "I, also, gave my beloved Son." Like...

Henry Allingham, who was born in London on 6 June 1896, is also the last surviving original member of the Royal Air Force - formed 90 years ago... Now partially deaf and almost blind, Mr Allingham, who was born in Clapham, London, now lives at St Dunstan's home for blind ex-servicemen, in Ovingdean. His life has spanned six monarchs and has taken in 21 prime ministers. Mr Allingham is the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland in 1916, and also fought at the Somme and Ypres where he was bombed and shelled. He joined the Royal Air Force when...

5/27/2008 - PARIS (AFPN) -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley, along with several hundred American and French citizens, paid homage to a special group of World War I aviators May 24 at the Lafayette Escadrille memorial ceremony that took place outside of Paris. The Airmen of the Lafayette Escadrille were the United States' first combat aviators. It was an American squadron of volunteers who flew under the French flag during World War I. Many of them gave their lives in defense of French democracy. General Moseley said it is important that the aviation heroes be honored...

Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last known living American-born veteran of World War I, was honored Sunday at the Liberty Memorial during Memorial Day weekend celebrations. "I had a feeling of longevity and that I might be among those who survived, but I didn't know I'd be the No. 1," the 107-year-old veteran said at a ceremony to unveil his portrait. His photograph was hung in the main hallway of the National World War I Museum, which he toured for the first time, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States presented him with a gold medal of merit....