Alfred Anderson (veteran) facts for kids
Alfred Anderson (born June 25, 1896 – died November 21, 2005) was a Scottish joiner (someone who builds things with wood). He was a brave soldier who fought in the First World War. He was the last known person to receive the 1914 Star medal. He was also the last known soldier to take part in the famous 1914 World War I Christmas truce. Alfred was Scotland's last known veteran from the First World War. He was also Scotland's oldest man for over a year before he passed away.
Contents
Early Life
Growing Up in Scotland
Alfred Anderson was born in Dundee, Scotland, on June 25, 1896. His father, Andrew Anderson, was also a joiner. His mother was Christina Thomas Emmerson. Alfred's parents had married in Chicago, Illinois, and had two sons there before moving back to Scotland. Alfred was one of four more children they had in Scotland. His father passed away in 1943, and his mother in 1953. Alfred helped register both of their deaths.
First World War (1914–1918)
Joining the War Effort
In October 1914, Alfred Anderson left his home. He joined the 1/5th Angus and Dundee Battalion of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment). This group traveled by train from Dundee to Southampton. Then they crossed the English Channel by ferry to Le Havre in France. Most of the soldiers in his regiment were from the County of Angus. Alfred was surrounded by friends he had joined the army with in 1912, when he was just sixteen. He thought it would be a big adventure, like a holiday. These young men had volunteered to fight on the Western Front.
The Christmas Truce of 1914
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1914, Alfred's unit was staying in a farmhouse. It was a bit away from the main fighting line. He remembered that day very clearly. He once said:
I remember the silence, the eerie sound of silence. Only the guards were on duty. We all went outside the farm buildings and just stood listening. And, of course, thinking of people back home. All I’d heard for two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machinegun fire and distant German voices.
But there was a dead silence that morning, right across the land as far as you could see. We shouted 'Merry Christmas', even though nobody felt merry. The silence ended early in the afternoon [...] It was a short peace in a terrible war.
For a while, people thought Bertie Felstead was the last survivor of the Christmas Truce. But it later became known that Alfred Anderson had also been part of it. Alfred lived four years longer than Bertie Felstead.
Fighting and Recovery
The next year, Alfred's battalion fought in battles like the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and Loos. Alfred became a batman (a soldier who helps an officer) for his platoon commander, Lieutenant Ian Bruce Gardyne. He also briefly helped Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon. Fergus was the brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Sadly, Captain Bowes-Lyon was killed in 1915 during the Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt at Loos.
While Alfred was a batman, he often went into No-Man's Land at night with Bruce-Gardyne. They would listen for enemy movements. During one of these night watches in 1916, Alfred was hurt. Shrapnel (small metal pieces from an explosion) hit him in the back of the neck. This type of wound was called a 'Blighty' wound. It meant he was sent home to Britain to get better. After recovering in a hospital in Norfolk, he became an infantry instructor. He taught soldiers at a camp near Ripon. By the end of the war in 1918, he had become a Staff Sergeant. While he was an instructor, he met and married his wife, Susanna Iddison (1896–1979). After the war, they moved back to Scotland. Alfred went back to working as a joiner in his father's business.
Second World War (1939–1945)
Serving His Country Again
When the Second World War started in 1939, Alfred was 43 years old. This meant he was too old to be drafted into the military. However, he still wanted to help. He was put in charge of a group in the Home Guard. This allowed him to "do his bit" for his country a second time. After the British and Allied forces won in 1945, Alfred was chosen as Chairman of the local branch of the British Legion.
Postwar Life and Legacy
Later Years and Recognition
Alfred's wife passed away in 1979. After that, he moved to Alyth to be closer to his youngest daughter.
In 1998, he received the Légion d'honneur. This is a very important award from France given to all First World War veterans who fought on French soil. In 2003, it became known that he had served as a batman for Fergus Bowes-Lyon. Because of this, Prince Charles (who is Fergus Bowes-Lyon's great-nephew) went to visit Alfred.
Six weeks before he passed away, Alfred moved to a nursing home. He died in November 2005 at the age of 109. When he died, he was Scotland's oldest man. He had been featured in a BBC One documentary called The Last Tommy. This show interviewed some of the last surviving British Army veterans from the First World War.
Alfred was a widower and had five children. He said he had lost count of his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was survived by four children, ten grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. A book about his life, Alfred Anderson: A Life in Three Centuries, was published in 2002. There is also a bust (a sculpture of his head and shoulders) of him on display at the public library in Alyth.
Alfred often thought about the Christmas Truce. He said:
I'll give Christmas Day 1914 a brief thought, as I do every year. And I'll think about all my friends who never made it home. But it's too sad to think too much about it. Far too sad.
