LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The last British soldier to serve in World War I was buried Thursday , marking `` the passing of a generation , '' the British veterans minister said . The coffin draped in a Union Jack flag is taken away from Well Cathedral . Harry Patch died July 25 at the age of 111 , a week after fellow British World War I veteran Henry Allingham died at the age of 113 . A party of pallbearers escorting his coffin was made up of two Belgian , two French , and two German infantrymen , while his coffin was carried by six soldiers from a unit that incorporated the one he served in during World War I. Patch was buried in the cathedral in the city of Wells , southwest England , where he lived . He joined the army at the age of 18 and fought in the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres , Belgium , in 1917 . He was seriously wounded in the battle , in which more than 70,000 of his fellow soldiers died -- including three of his close friends . `` Today marks the passing of a generation , and of a man who dedicated his final years to spreading the message of peace and reconciliation , '' Veterans Minister Kevan Jones said . `` Active participation in the Great War is now no longer part of living memory in this country , but Harry Patch will continue to be a symbol of the bravery and sacrifice shown by him and those he served with , '' he said . `` In his passing we have lost our last living link to the fighting in the trenches of the Western Front and a member of a generation that stood firm in the face of extraordinary adversity and unimaginable suffering , '' said Gen. Richard Dannatt , the head of the British army . `` But today above all else we give thanks for the life of a brave and inspirational man whose message of reconciliation and peace has reached and touched so many , '' he said . The funeral was attended by the acting head of the British government and the wife of Prince Charles , among thousands of others , the Ministry of Defence said . Patch was the last British man living in the United Kingdom to have served in the trenches on the Western Front , the Ministry of Defence said . Born in 1898 , Patch became a plumber before being conscripted to the army in 1916 . His unit , The Duke of Cornwall 's Light Infantry , was rushed to the front-line trenches of Ypres , where soldiers were urgently needed to replace those who were wounded and dying by the thousands . He fought in the trenches between June and September of 1917 and was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war . In late September he was wounded when a light shell exploded above his head , bringing an end to his military service . He received battlefield treatment without anesthetic . After the war ended in 1918 , Patch returned to his work as a plumber and later became a sanitary engineer . He married Ada Billington , a young woman he met while convalescing after the battle . They married in 1919 and had two sons . In World War II , Patch joined the Auxiliary Fire Service and helped tackle the fires caused by heavy German raids on the English cities of Bath and Bristol . At one point he was sent to organize sanitary arrangements for soldiers at a camp near Yeovil , in southwest England , where he became friendly with some of the men . Patch remembered the shock of finding the camp deserted , with coffee still hot and meals half-eaten , on the morning that the soldiers had gone off for the invasion of France , the Ministry of Defence said . His wife , Ada , died in 1976 , and their two sons also later died . Patch remarried in 1980 , but he became a widower for the second time four years later . Patch did n't speak about the war until he turned 100 , the Ministry of Defence said . `` He tried to suppress the memories and to live as normal a life as possible ; the culture of his time said that he was fortunate to have survived and that he should get on with his life , '' a Ministry of Defence biography says . `` That suited Harry ; he could ` forget ' his demons , the memories of what happened to him and to his close friends . '' In 1998 , a television producer with an interest in the war talked to Patch , who then made the decision to speak of his memories , the ministry said . He took part in a documentary on the war and began gradually to open up . It was n't long before Patch became a spokesman for his generation , speaking about the horrors of the war as well as his own emotions and reactions , the ministry said . `` In speaking about his experiences , Harry began at last to come to terms with his war , and was at peace with himself and his memories , '' the ministry said . `` His thoughts then turned to reconciliation , to the long-term effects of suffering and coming to terms with that suffering . '' Patch returned to Belgium in 2002 , something he had said he would never do , and laid a wreath in honor of his battalion , the Defence Ministry said . Two years later , he met and shook hands with a German artilleryman from the Western Front , Charles Kuentz . Patch later laid a wreath at Langemark Cemetery for the German war dead . In his last years , Patch was honored at Buckingham Palace and the prime minister 's residence at 10 Downing Street . On his 101st birthday France awarded him the Knighthood of the Legion of Honor , and this year President Nicolas Sarkozy upgraded that to the rank of officer . Last year , King Albert II of Belgium made Patch a Knight of the Order of Leopold . `` Harry was delighted to receive these awards and wore the medals with great pride , but he always made it clear that he wore these medals as a representative of the selfless generation he had come to represent , '' the Ministry of Defence said . In 2007 , Patch wrote a book detailing his life , called `` The Last Fighting Tommy . '' The name referred to the slang term for British privates . `` While the country may remember Harry as a soldier , we will remember him as a dear friend , '' said Jim Ross , a close friend . `` He was a man of peace who used his great age and fame as the last survivor of the trenches to communicate two simple messages : Remember with gratitude and respect those who served on all sides , -LRB- and -RRB- settle disputes by discussion , not war . ''