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Great War veterans aged over 100 meet at last
Two survivors from 'lost generation' – one saved from combat by flu – swap memories at Yorkshire nursing home
Mark Branagan
WITH an uncle wounded on the Western Front and the life expectancy of a second lieutenant down to three months, 18-year-old Philip Mayne never expected to see 19.
The engineering Army cadet had been commissioned in September 1918 and sent to North Wales to await orders for posting.
But by a twist of fate Mr Mayne has become Yorkshire's last surviving Great War era veteran and yesterday he had a poignant meeting with Henry Allingham, aged 109, a survivor of the Battle of Jutland and veteran of the Royal Naval Air Service.
The World War One Veterans Association had thought that no veterans from the Great War were still alive in Yorkshire. There are only 14 British Servicemen from the era left alive in the world and only three of them who saw active duty.
Mr Mayne was ready to serve at the front, but while still in Wales he was taken ill and diagnosed as suffering from flu in the pandemic then sweeping the world. Although not seriously affected his illness kept him out of the war until the Armistice in November.
When his daughter Muriel Stedman, 76, heard of Mr Allingham's attempts to seek out survivors she told the Eastbourne-based hero that her father was still alive and well, despite having a son of 70.
Yesterday the two great- grandfathers met for the first time at Mr Mayne's retire-ment home in Richmond, where it was suggested the younger man could end up as the last surviving veteran, and possibly be in line for a state funeral. Such a funeral has been called for by MPs to honour the lost generation.
Mr Mayne, aged 106, of Richmond said: "I don't know about that if I do end up representing a generation. I think I would have got something for not doing very much.
"The only thing I remember about the Army was it was bloody hard work and it was the toughest few months of my life. I never reckoned I was anything to be talked about. I only did my six months' training and that was it."
He added: "Most likely I would have been posted to France and I was not too keen because the story then was that the life expectancy of a second lieutenant like me was three months. So it was not very attractive."
Mr Mayne, the son of a Hampstead caterer, had been a scholarship boy at Christ Hospital, a boarding school which took in gifted children from elementary school backgrounds.
He was able to take up his place at Cambridge after Christmas, after only missing the first term due to the war.
By the time the Second World War broke out he was in a reserved occupation making chemicals for explosives. Working for ICI at Billingham from 1924-62, he eventually returned to Richmond to be closer to his daughter.
When asked how he had managed to live so long, Mr Allingham, who was also a veteran of Ypres, said: "I would like to say the secret is whisky and cigarettes. Mr Mayne looks in pretty good shape. I hear he says it is due to one banana a day."
But the family of Mr Mayne said that his lucky escape from combat underlined how the tragedy of war could affect whole generations.
Mrs Stedman said: "There are three children, eight grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren – in other words more than 30 people – who might not be here now if it wasn't for that flu."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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