I don't know why or how but the page of this article is different from the RSS feed. The page referenced here: Mourners pay tribute to first world war soldier Harry Patch | World news | guardian.co.uk does not appear to have this from the RSS feed, and it's an intriguing omission /edit.
Officials from the French and German governments were also in attendance.
Marie-France Andre, the charge d'affaires of the Belgian embassy, read an extract from Patch's book, The Last Fighting Tommy:
"We came across a lad from A company. He was ripped open from his shoulder to his waist by shrapnel and lying in a pool of blood.
"When we got to him, he said: 'Shoot me'. He was beyond human help and, before we could draw a revolver, he was dead. And the final word he uttered was 'Mother.'
"I remember that lad in particular. It's an image that has haunted me all my life, seared into my mind."
After the reading, a Wells cathedral chorister sang Pete Seeger's Where Have All the Flowers Gone. The song was chosen by one of Patch's grandchildren to reflect his views on the futility of war, which he called "organised murder".
And I can't help feeling that the way that jibes against the military honours in the service is interesting and subverting. He told the truth, the military paraphernalia hides it.
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