General CommentThis is obviously a song about the memory of Harry Patch the last remaining survivor of WWI who recently died.Just heard this for the first time today and It is absolutely beautiful. I feel like this should be heard with the falling of snowflakes. Harry Patch was a veteran of the war who served under the British army, present at Passchendale. By the time of his death in July 2009 he was the last person on Earth who had experienced the combat of the war first hand. A month later, Radiohead released this song in his memory.

A sand animation has brought to life the heart-breaking story of the last fighting Tommy's loss of his friends during World War One.

Harry Patch was only 19 when he was called up to serve in the 7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and was conscripted to Belgium.

He became one of the half a million casualties of Passchendaele but survived a blast from a German artillery shell that killed three of his best friends.

Harry Patch was only 19 when he was called up to serve in the 7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He died age 111 in 2009

The outline of five men are drawn in the sand while Harry narrates the story of his friends dying in September 1917

The beautiful animation from Studio Panda, Alex Harwood and Testimony Films, uses an audio recording of Harry re-telling his painful story.

He says: 'We were a team together, and that was it. We were five of us in the team, we lost three of them.

'I shall never forget the three I lost behind me. That upsets me more than anything.'

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As Harry speaks on the video, an artist's hand can be seen reshaping the sand into the shape of soldiers faces, their helmets and the destroyed ground.

Their facial expressions change as Harry speaks about his experiences and poignant music is played.

As Harry speaks the figures change slightly with the artist adding tears and frowning faces

The black outlines of other soldiers are also drawn as Harry reveals his friends died and he 'never found anything of them' after the shelling

Harry (left with medals) first went over the top on August 16, 1917 in the Battle of Langemarck. More than 1,000 people, including military dignitaries, attended his funeral in 2009

When Harry reveals his friends were 'simply blown to pieces' by the artillery shell, the sand animation draws the shape of a lone soldier lying on the ground with smoke spirals building around him.

He continues: 'I never found anything of them. They took the whole blast of the shell.

'I knew what had happened to them after, not before. Because when I went down with the blast I don't know how long I lay there before I was picked up but I was told after what had happened to them.

'I'd lost three good mates. September 22 1917 that is my remembrance day not Armistice Day.'

The animation then draws the trenches and poppy flowers growing out of the ground. The images are made by moving sand grains over a lightbox.

The moving images of the trenches are made by moving sand grains over a lightbox

A poppy is drawn in the sand as Harry reveals the day his friends died is his remembrance day

Harry kept the horrors he witnessed secret for many years but opened up before he passed away aged 111 in 2009.

The Battle of Passchendaele

Known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele, along with the Somme, has come to symbolise the Great War.

The Allied assault was launched in the early hours of 31 July 1917. Because of the torrential rain, the British and Canadian troops found themselves fighting not only the Germans but a quagmire of stinking mud that swallowed up men, horses and tanks.

After three months, one week and three days of brutal trench warfare, the Allies finally recaptured the village of Passchendaele – but by then around a third of a million British and Allied soldiers had been killed or wounded in some of the most horrific trench warfare of the conflict.

He first went over the top on August 16, 1917 in the Battle of Langemarck - the second Allied general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres, during the First World War.

The battle lasted two days and was Harry's first experience of fighting at the front.

The conflict resulted in 15,000 casualties but the village, where a memorial to Harry now lies, was successfully taken.

At the end of the animation video, the story of Harry's life after the war is shared.

After he opened up about his time fighting in WWI at the age of 100, Harry was given a new lease of life and found love with Doris, his soulmate.

He also wrote a book with Richard Van Emden called The Last Fighting Tommy, which became a best seller.

With the proceeds from the book Harry bought a lifeboat and named it The Harry And The Doris.

Harry didn't speak about the war for most of his life but opened up in his final years

The last fighting Tommy wrote a book and used the royalties to buy a lifeboat as he wanted to help save lives after seeing so many die in the war

He said he had seen so much death as a young man he wanted to help save lives.

Growing in confidence and speaking more and more in public, Harry became an international figure warning of the dangers of war and the need for world peace.

He was also given an honorary degree from the University of Bristol.

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Harry told historian Mr van Emden he knew what to expect before he was sent to Belgium after a grave warning from his brother.

William Patch, who was wounded a year before Harry was enlisted, told him: 'Don't go until you are called up. You are in for absolute hell. It's as bad as it gets.'

On his last trip back to the fields of Flanders before his death, he said: 'This was all mud, mud and more mud, mixed together with blood.

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'We fought for a few yards of this soil – and that cost the lives of most of my ­comrades. There was no excuse for such slaughter for so little gain.'

Harry Devert

Harry (pictured) warned of the dangers of war and the need for world peace in his later years