Bright Williams

Bright Ernest Williams, (27 February 1897 – 13 February 2003) was, at the time of his death, the last New Zealand World War I veteran out of the 100,444 New Zealanders to fight in that war.

Williams was born the son of a blacksmith in Rissington, north of Napier, and enlisted in the New Zealand Army in March 1916. By 1917, he was on the front lines in Belgium, and was wounded on 12 October 1917 when three machine gun bullets hit him during fighting in the Battle of Passchendaele. On that day, during that battle, 845 New Zealand soldiers of the New Zealand Division were killed in action, with over 2,700 being wounded. In total for that battle, the allied forces suffered 508,800 casualties, while Germany suffered 348,300 casualties. During a 2001 interview, Williams spoke of suffering through mud and freezing rain, seeking shelter in trenches among the corpses of dead German soldiers. At the time of his death, Williams had two daughters, eleven grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

List of honours

• Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (France) - 1998

Documentaries

• Bright Williams - Last Man Standing Execam Video

Further reading

• Glyn Harper, Massacre at Passchendaele — The New Zealand Story, Harper Collins, 2000, ISBN 1-86950-342-2. Describes the battle of Passchendaele from the New Zealand perspective. Several quotes from interviews with Bright Williams.

References

• Bright Williams, New Zealand World War I Veteran
• Also see List of last surviving World War I veterans by country