Final survivor of war's Christmas truce dies at 109
By David Lister
End of an era as tributes flood in for the First World War veteran who was the country’s oldest man after a life taking in three centuries

THE last known British veteran of the Christmas truce of the First World War died yesterday, aged 109, after a life spanning three centuries. Tributes poured in to Alfred Anderson, who died peacefully in his sleep.

A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said that the Queen was “very sorry to hear of Mr Anderson’s death”. Lieutenant-Colonel Roddy Riddell, regimental secretary of The Black Watch, in which Mr Anderson served, said that his death marked “the end of an epoch”. There are now only eight British survivors of the First World War left.

Mr Anderson, who was just 18 when the guns on the Western Front fell silent and German and British soldiers played football among the muddy craters of no man’s land, spent two years in the trenches before being wounded in 1916 and shipped home. He served as batman to Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon, brother of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who was among 500 soldiers killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915.

The Prince of Wales said last night that he was “deeply saddened” by Mr Anderson’s death. “As many in Scotland and beyond will know, he had a legendary reputation within the Black Watch and had a special connection with my grandmother’s family. He will be missed by many. We should not forget him, and the others of his generation, who gave so much for their country.”

Scotland ’s oldest man, Mr Anderson continued to live on his own until two months ago, when he moved into a nursing home near his home town of Alyth , Perth and Kinross. Until recently he had said that his wish was to die shot in bed by a jealous lover. He put his longevity down to being a non-smoker and drinking only in moderation. Although too frail to attend this year’s Armistice Day commemorations, he spoke poignantly of his memories and said that there was “not a day goes by that I don’t think of those I left behind”.

“It’s maybe because of the terrible constant noise in the trenches that the two-minute silence on November 11 means so much to me,” he recalled. “Every day I remember, yet I have spent my life trying to forget. But it wouldn’t do to forget them, especially those of us who survive wars and have to leave our friends behind. I see people wearing their poppies. It’s such a pretty flower for such horrific memories.”

Mr Anderson was among the first British soldiers to face the horrors of trench warfare when his unit, the 5th Battalion The Black Watch, was mobilised to France in 1914. Only last year he spoke in detail of his memories of Christmas 1914, when British and German troops clambered out of their trenches, sang carols and played football by kicking around empty bully-beef cans, using their steel helmets as goalposts. “I remember the silence, the eerie silence,” he said of the unofficial truce, which spread along much of the 500-mile Western Front where more than a million men were bunkered down.

“All I’d heard for two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machine gun fire and distant voices,” he said. “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 and the killing started again. It was a short peace in a terrible war.”

Mr Anderson had risen to the rank of sergeant by the time he was invalided out in 1916 after being caught in an explosion that left him with serious shrapnel wounds and killed several of his comrades.

His wife, Susanna Iddison, died in 1979, but four of Mr Anderson’s children are still alive, while he is also survived by 10 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

The veteran remained eloquent about his wartime experiences right up to his death. He said recently: “I remember returning home as a civilian and witnessing the mourning in every street of every village and town. The war may have been over but the wounds would remain raw for a long time. I felt so guilty meeting the families of friends who were lost. They looked at me as if I should have been left in the mud of France instead of their loved one. I couldn’t blame them, they were grieving, and I still share their grief and bear that feeling of guilt.”

A bust of Mr Anderson stands on display at the public library in Alyth, where he is held in deep affection, while in 2002 a biography, Alfred Anderson: A Life in Three Centuries, was published.

The Rev Neil Gardner, of Alyth Parish Church , where Mr Anderson remained a member of the congregation until earlier this year, said: “He was Scotland ’s oldest man but he remained lucid almost until the end. He was gracious and unassuming. Alfred was quite philosophical about his wartime experiences — he was never up or down. He had a great sense of humour but also a terrific sense of wisdom which came from his great age.”

Neil Griffiths, of the Royal British Legion of Scotland, said: “He was gentle and very humorous, with a quick wit. But I think also there was a great sadness in his heart that he had outlived his generation — all his friends had died.”

Speaking on behalf of The Black Watch, Lt-Col Riddell said: “It really is the end of an epoch. The entire regiment is in mourning and we are all the sadder for his passing.”

Alfred Anderson witnessed the Christmas truce of 1914

We should not forget him, and the others of his generation, who gave so much for their country

Prince Charles

Mr Anderson received a private visit from Prince Charles

Alfred was a fine old soldier who was a brilliant example of old world courtliness

Neil Griffiths
Royal British Legion Scotland