What is Claude Choules?
{{Infobox Military Person |name= Claude Choules |born= {{Birth date |df=yes|1901|3|3}} - died 5th May 2011 (age 110) |image = Claude Choules.jpg |caption= |nickname= Chuckles |placeofbirth= [[Wyre Piddle]], [[Pershore]], [[Worcestershire]], England |placeofdeath= |allegiance= {{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]<br />{{flagicon|Australia}} [[Australia]] |branch= [[Royal Navy]]<br />[[Royal Australian Navy]] |serviceyears= 1916 – 1956 |rank= Acting Torpedo Officer, [[Fremantle, Western Australia|Fremantle]]<br />Chief Demolition Officer |unit= |commands= |battles= [[World War I]]<br />[[World War II]] |awards= |relations= |laterwork= }} '''Claude Choules''' (3 March 1901 – 5 May 2011)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8494067/Last-British-veteran-of-WW1-Claude-Choules-dies.html |title=Last veteran of WW1 Claude Choules dies - Telegraph |access-date=2018-04-01 |archive-date=2012-09-12 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912075842/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8494067/Last-British-veteran-of-WW1-Claude-Choules-dies.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> was a [[British people|British]]-[[Australians|Australian]] [[List of surviving veterans of World War I|World War I veteran]] who served in the [[Royal Navy]]. == Biography == === World War I & World War II === Born in [[Wyre Piddle]], son of Harry & Madeline (née Winn), near [[Pershore]], [[Worcestershire]], Choules joined the [[Royal Navy]] as a young man in 1916, and served aboard the Naval Training Ship [[HMS Impregnable#Training establishment|HMS Circe]] at [[HMNB Devonport|Plymouth]]. In 1917, he joined the battleship [[HMS Revenge (06)|HMS ''Revenge'']], which was the [[flagship]] of the [[1st Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)|First Battle Squadron]]. While serving aboard her, Choules witnessed the surrender of the [[Kaiserliche Marine|German Imperial Navy]] at the [[Firth of Forth]] in 1918, ten days after the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|Armistice]], and was also to witness the [[scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flo