Radiohead - Harry Patch (In Memory of)

Upon the passing away of the last surviving veteran of World War I, Mr Harry Patch, at the age of 111, Radiohead released their new track in tribute to him.

In September 1917, Mr Harry Patch survived a bomb attack which killed three of his comrades but was wounded, at the Battle of Passchendaele, which saw hundreds of thousands of British casualties in the three months in which it lasted. In an interview with BBC in 2005, Mr Patch revealed that he had not spoken about his war experiences for 80 years and was often haunted by recurring nightmares of the bomb which hit his unit.

An excerpt by Thom Yorke on Radiohead's website:
I had heard a very emotional interview with him a few years ago on the Today program on Radio4. The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me. It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death. It was done live in an abbey. The strings were arranged by Jonny. I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.

It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us. I hope we do not forget.

As Harry himself said:
"Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims".

The track, Harry Patch (In Memory of), is available for download at £1.00 on their website, Radiohead.

All proceeds will go to the British Legion.

Peace