HE IS the oldest former soldier left in Britain but he can still remember the ditty that his comrades-in-arms used to sing in the trenches in Flanders.

Henry Allingham, 109, is one of nine First World War veterans still alive who are preparing to commemorate their fallen comrades at Remembrance Sunday services around the country. Another is still alive in Australia. Yesterday Mr Allingham and another Great War colleague, Bill Stone, 105, were given a special guard of honour by a dozen men in First World War uniforms and carrying Lee Enfield rifles with fixed bayonets, at a ceremony at the National Army Museum in London to mark the publication of a book about the last veterans.

Mr Allingham, who normally requires a wheelchair to get around, clasped the hand of his fellow centenarian as he stood for photographs, and later gave a gentle rendition of the wartime trench song Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty. Mr Stone who served in the Royal Navy in both wars, also burst into song yesterday to remind the assembled company that All the Nice Girls Love a Sailor.

After signing his autograph in the book, Last Post, the Final Word from Our First World War Soldiers, by Max Arthur, Mr Stone, a winner of 12 medals, was asked what the secret was behind his extraordinary longevity. He said: “A contented mind, clean living and trust in the Lord.”

Mr Allingham, however, had a different explanation for his long life. He declared with a grin: “It’s down to cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women.”

Mr Stone who lives in his own home in Watlington, Oxfordshire, will be attending his local Remembrance service. Mr Allingham who also still lives in his own house in Eastbourne, hopes to be at the Cenotaph service in Whitehall on Sunday. Tomorrow he is due to travel by Eurostar to France to attend a memorial service at St Omer. He said that he enjoyed life but admitted that it focused around “keeping warm, keeping fed and keeping clean”.

THE FEW

Henry Allingham, 109, Royal Naval Air Service

Alfred Anderson, 109, The Black Watch

George Rice, 108, Durham Light Infantry

Harry Patch, 107, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry

Harold Lawton, 106, Cheshire Regiment

Nicholas Swarbrick, 106, Merchant Navy

Bert Clark, 105, Northamptonshire Regiment

Kenneth Cummins, 105, Royal Naval Reserve

William Roberts, 105, Royal Flying Corps

Bill Stone, 105, Royal Navy

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