I don’t know why I feel compelled to report the deaths of “last war veterans”; perhaps it’s because I feel that my own generation is moving into the front lines.  At any rate, the Washington Post reports that Claude Choules, the “only remaining veteran of World War I and one of the last people to have served in both world wars,” died today in Australia at the age of 110.

Mr. Choules and another Briton, Florence Green, became the war’s last known surviving service members after the death of American Frank Buckles in February, according to the Order of the First World War, a U.S.-based group that tracks veterans.

Mr. Choules was the last known surviving combatant of the war. Green, who turned 110 in February, served as a waitress in the Women’s Royal Air Force.

“Everything comes to those who wait and wait,” Mr. Choules told an interviewer in 2009. . . .

Despite the fame his military service brought him, Mr. Choules later in life became a pacifist who was uncomfortable with anything that glorified war. He disagreed with the celebration of Anzac Day, Australia’s most important war memorial holiday, and refused to march in parades held each year to mark the holiday.

“I had a pretty poor start,” he told a reporter in 2009. “But I had a good finish.”

RIP, Claude.

Reader Heber Gurrola has reminded us that tonight’s debate at Notre Dame between Sam Harris and William Lane Craig will be livestreamed here, starting at 7 p.m. EST.

The topic is “Is Good from God?”, and here’s Notre Dame’s blurb on the debate:

Who is Sam Harris? Sam Harris, one of the “Four Horsemen of Atheism”, a neuroscientist, philosopher, and bestselling author, will seek to show that the separation between scientific facts and human values is an illusion. Harris will prove that science, not religion, should provide the basis for morality.

Who is William Lane Craig? William Lane Craig is an American Evangelical Christian apologist, theologian, and analytic philosopher known for his work in the philosophy of religion, historical Jesus studies, and the philosophy of time. One of the foremost apologists in the field, Craig has faced some of the best and has been known to hold nothing back in his sharpshooting style of debate. Point by point, Craig will show that morality must be based upon the bedrock foundation of divine revelation, defending the vital role of religion in our modern times.

By the grace of Ceiling Cat, Sam Harris will be speaking here this Friday afternoon about his new book, The Moral Landscape.  Admission is free, and the location and time appear in this ad from the student newspaper (click to enlarge):

Sam’s 20-minute talk will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.

Thanks to the U of C Office of Spiritual Life, Professor Robert Richards, and Dr. Alex Lickerman for helping organize this affair.

One of the friends I’m visiting in Boston is Andrew Berry, who teaches evolutionary biology at Harvard.  You may recall that Berry, whose other passion is mountaineering, placed a copy of WEIT atop Mount Darwin in California.

Berry has recently posted an account of his mountaineering homage to Charles Darwin: a combined climbing/backpacking expedition with another evolutionist.  The team ascended Mounts Darwin, Wallace, and Lamarck in the Sierra Nevada. His account includes interesting information on how these mountains got their names (others in the range include Mounts Huxley, Spencer, and Mendel).  Berry is unenthusiastic about the suggestion (seriously) that another peak in the range be named Mount (Stephen Jay) Gould; he favors Mount [R. A.] Fisher instead.

Photos from the 2009 expedition: