WWI veteran marks 109th birthday

A retired waitress, believed to be the last surviving British veteran of the First World War, has celebrated her 109th birthday.

Florence Green received a birthday card from the Queen, as well as a cake and a handwritten card from Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, Chief of the Air Staff.

The service record of Florence, who was a mess steward at RAF bases in Marham, Norfolk, and nearby Narborough, was unearthed by a researcher only recently.

Until the discovery earlier this year, it had been thought that veterans Harry Patch and Henry Allingham, both of whom died in July last year, had been the last Britons to serve in World War One.

Born in London, Florence moved to King's Lynn as a child. She joined the Women's RAF (WRAF) in September 1918, six months after the service was created and two months before the war ended.

A senior officer from RAF Marham, Wing Commander Adrian Burns, accompanied by one of the base's mess stewards, 17-year-old Hannah Shaw, visited Florence at her home in King's Lynn, Norfolk .

Florence, a widow, was not fit enough to travel to Marham for the RAF's celebrations.

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