Would Harry Patch have agreed with the general?

In 1916 Harry Patch was an ordinary 18-year-old with no idea how extraordinary he would become.
He joined the army and went to fight in the Flanders trenches because that was what most of his generation did.
Harry was still only 20 when the armistice came in 1918 and the young plumber locked the nightmare memories of the horror of war in the back of his mind for the next 80 years.
Then he started to talk about what he had seen and spread his messages about peace and reconciliation tirelessly with public appearances and interviews despite his great age.
“Let us remember our comrades who fell on both sides of the line,” said Harry.
“The most important thing is don't go to war. Settle it over the table.”As the last surviving fighting Tommy, blessed with charm, humour and humanity, Harry Patch became a national and international icon. The last man with first hand memories of the First World War trenches.
He did not want the fuss of a state funeral but Harry would have been pleased on Thursday last week that so many young people had demonstrably taken to heart his message of peace and reconciliation.
They have learnt that war is grim not glorious.
“Harry would have agreed that sometimes force has to be used,” said the head of the army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, after the funeral service at Wells Cathedral.
The general had Iraq and Afghanistan in mind, but would Harry the pacifist soldier really have agreed? I think not.
Philip Welch