UK

WW1's last surviving servicewoman dies

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Tributes have been paid after the death of the world's last known surviving service member of the First World War at the age of 110.

Florence Green served as a mess steward at RAF bases in Marham and Narborough. She died in her sleep on Saturday night at Briar House care home in King's Lynn – weeks before she’d have turned 111.

Her death follows that of the world's last known WW1 combat veteran - Briton Claude Choules who died in Australia aged 110 in May 2011 – and the deaths of the last three WWI veterans living in the UK. They were Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch.

Mrs Green joined the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) on 13 September 1918 - two months before the armistice.

After she left the WRAF, she married at the age of 19 and worked for much of her life at a hotel in King's Lynn.

Group Captain David Cooper, station commander at RAF Marham, said in a statement he was very sad to hear that Mrs Green had died and added members of the airforce would be at her funeral.

The WRAF was created to free up men for active service and saw women undertake a variety of jobs, from drivers and mechanics to cooks and office clerks.

The WRAF was disbanded on 1 April 1920.

Mrs Green's funeral will be held at Mintlyn Crematorium, Bawsey, in Norfolk, on 16 February, her funeral directors confirmed.