Saudi Gazette report

ABHA — Saeed Bin Mohie Bin Ahmed Al-Ahmed Al-Qahtani, the last man who fought in one of the Kingdom’s unification wars along with King Abdul Aziz’s forces, died on Tuesday in his village of Al-Omrah in the Uhud Rufaidah governorate. He was 118 years old.

Despite his old age, Al-Qahtani had a good memory, Al-Watan Arabic daily said in an obituary published on Wednesday.

His ID card showed Al-Qahtani was born in 1327 H (1909) but he used to say he was born much earlier.

Al-Qahtani is survived by two of his sons Mohammed, 75, and Ali, 65

The last war he fought in was at Baqim in 1352H (1934).

On the occasion of the 88th anniversary of the Kingdom’s National Day last September, Al-Watan published a full-page interview of Al-Qahtani.

The newspaper said his memory was good and that his son Ali and his grandson Abdul Kareem were recording his memoirs.

In his interview to Al-Watan, Al-Qahtani said though he was quite young at the time, he still remembered the Ottoman reign in Asir when Turkish soldiers patrolled the market place in Abha.

He also remembered the short era of Prince Hassan Bin Ali Al-Ayed. He said he hastened to join the forces of King Abdul Aziz when he saw them coming from the east.

Al-Qahtani said Sheikh Bin Haif, the chieftain of the Khattab and Jarmah regions, was choosing fighters from their area.

He said his role in the Baqim war was logistical where he used to bring flour to feed the fighters in the battlefront.

He remembered that only three men from his area were chosen to participate in the war. They were Mubarak Bin Abdullah Al-Abu Hawi, Abdullah Bin Ali Al-Huraid and Mohammed Bin Maeedh Al-Mashouf.