Last of the Last, The – CLAUDE CHOULES: His Autobiography

Mr Choules joined the British navy as a teenager and served on the battleship HMS Revenge, from which he watched the 1918 surrender of the German High Seas Fleet.

He later migrated to Australia and served in the military for more than 40 years.

According to the Order of the First World War, a group that tracks veterans, Mr Choules and another Briton, Florence Green, were the last known surviving service members from the conflict. Ms Green served as a waitress in the Women’s Royal Air Force.

Mr Choules celebrated his 110th birthday with family and friends in Perth in March.

He was the last known male survivor of more than 70 million military personnel during WWI, after American veteran Frank Buckles passed away in March also aged 110.

Born in England in 1901, Mr Choules served with Britain’s Royal Navy onboard the HMS Impregnable in 1916 at the age of 15.

The only other surviving WWI veteran is believed to be Britain’s Florence Green, who served with the Royal Air Force in a non-combat role and is now aged 110.

Mr Choules joined the battleship HMS Revenge in 1917 and witnessed the surrender of the German Fleet near Firth of Forth in Scotland in 1918.

Mr Choules moved to Fremantle where he was seconded to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1926.

He was a commissioning crew member of the HMAS Canberra and served with her until 1931 when he discharged from the RAN before rejoining as a torpedo and anti-submarine instructor in 1932.

As the acting torpedo officer at Fremantle in WWII, Mr Choules disposed of the first German mine to wash up on Australian soil during WWII, near Esperance, on WA’s south coast.

He was also tasked with destroying harbour and oil storage tanks at the Fremantle port in case of a Japanese invasion.

Mr Choules remained in the RAN after WWII, spending his final working years at the Naval Dockyard Police and joining the crayfishing industry, at Safety Bay, south of Perth.

Mr Choules released his autobiography in 2009 titled The Last of the Last, depicting his childhood and move to Australia, as well as his times at war. pp. xiii, 147. Illusts, prev ownership on prelims. First Edition. #0218