LONDON (RNS) In a funeral at one of the nation’s most ancient cathedrals, Britain said farewell Thursday (Aug. 6) to 111-year-old Harry Patch, its last survivor of the trenches of World War I.

Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Wells, in southwest England, and another 1,000-plus jammed ancient Wells Cathedral to honor modest, retired plumber Henry John Patch, who outlived every other Briton who fought in what had been billed as “the war to end all wars.”

That billing, of course, proved erroneous, as the Rev. Patrick Woodhouse said in his eulogy to Harry Patch, noting that the day also marked the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima that effectively ended World War II.

Patch steadfastly refused for 80 years to talk about the so-called “Great War” in which he had fought, until he passed the 100-year mark.

In that, his centenary year, he declared himself a “man of peace.”

The old soldier “declined the offer of a state funeral, as he said it really wasn’t his way,” recounted Andrew Larpent, who cared for Patch in his old age.

Patch’s death, on July 25, came barely a week after that of his fellow British World War I veteran and penultimate survivor, 113-year-old Henry Allingham.

At Harry Patch’s funeral, in England’s smallest but one of its oldest cathedrals, veterans minister Kevan Jones said, “Today marks the passing of a generation, and of a man who dedicated his final years to spreading the message of peace and reconciliation.”