John Caldwell wrote:

>When I was a GP trainee back in 1989 I attended the 105th birthday of a
>patient who had lied about his age, joined the army at 15, and was present
>at Mafeking in 1899, subsequently serving for four years in the Great War.
>He lived alone, had a regular routine including a lunchtime pint at the
>British Legion, and attended the surgery every 3 months except for a bout of
>pneumonia for which I'd visited him, and he apologised for his 80-year old
>son acting like an old woman!
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: GP-UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mark Pasola
>Sent: 23 December 2005 08:36
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: The few
>
>A old soldier patient of mine, who died a short time after his 100th 
>birthday recalled sitting in an amphibious tank just off the Normandy 
>Coast, waiting for the order to roll up onto the beaches.  A quick 
>Google reveals that these were probably American Sherman DD tanks. The 
>technology didn't work. A lot of his mates ended up on the sea bed.
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_DD
>
>Even after his centenary he was  routinely seen to be seen about town on 
>his  Motability scooter, running errands for his 87 year old wife, and 
>would never dream of asking his doctor for a visit.
>
>Mark
>
>  
>
One of my patients, now dead, remembered a dangerous duty he had on the 
Western Front before the
Battle of the Somme. At night, that summer,  he had to go out to clear 
the pathways through the minefields, marked out by white
tape, cutting the poppies and long grass with a scythe. If a starshell 
went up you froze. He survived
physically, and as far as I could tell, mentally unscathed.

Allan Harris