The recent death of 111 year old Harry Patch, the last British survivor of the nightmare trenches of WW1, stopped me in my tracks and moved me in a way I'd never expected. Sure, on the surface, it's a tale of a good old Tommy, who lived through two world wars and served his country faithfully, outliving his kids and wife, but there's a deeper, more compelling story behind this significant milestone.

We're perilously close to losing direct touch with monstrosities of both world wars, as survivors age and leave us. We're in grave danger of losing the memory of the terrible events. Lest we forget, has been the constant message associated with remembrance, for those who fell and endured the brutality and hardship, but I can't help feeling that we are starting to forget and within a generation, all memory with be relegated to history books and archives.

My parents were born during the second war to end all wars and they have no memory of it whatsoever. They lived through the austerity and relative poverty of the post-war period and emerged, fully fledged, into a world of prosperity, growth and plenty. My generation has certainly been spared the pain of war and I pray my child's generation will be equally oblivious to its horror.

There's a huge danger that we, as a nation and a world, will forget how foul and miserable war can be and we'll losing the compulsion to avoid it at any cost. Harry Patch was unable to speak of his first world war experiences, until he was 100 years old. Such was the pain and anguish he suffered. So terrible were the sites and experiences he kept suppressed for so very long. Without these living, breathing reminders of the atrocities of war, surely we will lose an invaluable, sobering point of reference and source of wisdom.

Without these sobering voices and memories, we are in danger of making the mistakes of the past, particularly in this world where so much is at stake, so much disparity still exists and our very survival is at risk due to climate change. ideological differences and diminishing stocks of natural resources. Someone recently argued that world wars were inevitable, that humans need, from time to time, to be brought into check. He went so far as to say that a huge cull of human beings would be beneficial for the planet.

Maybe he's right, but I'd like to think we have the intelligence and wherewithal to transcend our atavistic tendencies and find peaceful, practical solutions to the mounting challenges we face. Let's hope we never forget the tragedy and evil of war and remain firmly behind the arbitrators, negotiators and diplomats who continue to communicate messages of temperance and harmony.