Oldest British WWI survivor to be honored

LONDON, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- A 110-year-old British veteran of World War I will be honored by a musical composition for being the oldest living survivor of the war, the composers say.

Poet laureate Andrew Motion said he is working with Master of the Queen's Music Peter Maxwell Davies to create an oratorio dedicated to veteran Harry Patch, the last living British survivor of the western front conflict of World War I, The Sunday Times of London reported.

Motion said by creating the composition to honor the war veteran and performing it with the choir of Portsmouth grammar school Nov. 9, he hopes to educate young listeners about their country's history.

The oratorio is based on a Motion poem about Patch, who survived the historical battle of Passchendaele that claimed nearly 500,000 lives.

For Davies, creating the musical dedication represents an important connection between history and the musical world.

"We must not be simply passengers in our cultural life, but a driving force," he told The Times.