Harry Patch celebrates his 111th birthday in June 2009 at his Somerset care home. Photograph: Jason Bryant/PA
Today is the day that Harry Patch, having lived 111 years on the earth to become last surviving "Tommy" of the first world war, is laid to rest in Wells, Somerset.
Like Henry Allingham, who died aged 113 just weeks ago, Harry kept silent for over eight decades about the horrors he witnessed in the trenches.
Many would say it was characteristic of that generation to simply remain quiet. Harry Patch, like millions of other young men, put themselves on the front line in the name of duty – "king and country". There was nothing else to be said. They were products of a different time, deference was still alive and kicking, and there was certainly no note of today's tell-all celebrity culture. After a year of convalescence from his injuries Harry simply returned to work and settled down to marriage and fatherhood.
Yet, thankfully, Harry was encouraged in his final years to speak out on the absolute futility of war. And I, for one, am grateful. My own grandfather had also been a Tommy, in both name and rank. He survived the war, yet died long before I was born so that I would never get to hear those memories directly.
Harry Patch honoured the ghosts of his, and our collective past, when he declared the full monstrosity and pointlessness of war. He compensated for those eight decades of silence with all the force of his younger self, reinvigorating his own sense of purpose, and ensuring that we do not forget.
Radiohead yesterday premiered a song using Harry's own pacifist words. Andrew Motion wrote a poem in his honour, The Five Acts of Harry Patch, and there was also the autobiography, The Last Fighting Tommy.
Harry also made clear during his final years that the "official" day of remembrance for those who sacrificed their lives in combat was nothing more than "showbusiness". His own remembrance day had always been 22 September. That was the day when Harry Patch watched his three best mates blown to pieces, and also the day when his war also came to an end.
Listening to Harry, and reading his words, it seems clear to me that the most important thing for him was the power of friendship. It is fitting then, that the final part of Harry's funeral service will be focused on the theme of peace and reconciliation. A lesson for all times.
What have you learned from the life of Harry Patch?
Belinda Webb, the author of the novel A Clockwork Apple.