Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
15 September 2011
First World War Soldier
Dies on the Last Day
The armistice agreement that ended World War One
was about to be signed yet Canadian soldiers
were still needlessly ordered into battle
The futility of the First World War can be summed up near the town of Mons in Belgium where the first British soldier died in 1914 and where the last Canadian soldier died four years and three months later.
Both men fell within half a mile of each other and both are buried in the same cemetery.
Canoe News (November 2008) quotes Steve Harris, chief military historian with the Department of National Defence, as saying, “For some people who are truly cynical, it basically says the First World War was four years spent fighting over half a mile.”
But, is it really cynicism to suggest a war that ended up back where it started after 8.5 million men were killed and 21.2 million were wounded was senseless?
Last Push to Defeat Germany
General Sir Arthur Currie (right) had been appointed commander of the Canadian Corps
in 1917.
Between August and November 1918, the Canadian Corps played a major role in what became known as the “100 Day Offensive;” a series of battles that finally broke the resistance of the German Army and sent it into full retreat.
By November 9, 1918, the allies were four miles away from Mons. The Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War by Colonel G.W.L. Nicholson reports rather blandly, “That night the Canadian Corps issued orders for the capture of Mons on the following day.”
On November 10, the Canadians found “machine-
Library and Archives Canada
Canadian soldiers take a break and shelter in a ditch during the 100-
Armistice Negotiations and the War’s End
Firstworldwar.com records that “Turkey and Austria-
Germany was in surrender talks from late October 1918 onwards and signed the armistice at 5 a.m. on November 11.
The war was clearly coming to an end, yet General Currie ordered the attack on Mons to continue.
The Last Canadian Soldier Dies
Official war records show that during the last two days of the war “a total of 18 officers and 262 other ranks” were killed; the last fatality being that of Private George Lawrence Price of the Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regt.).
According to the Canadian Great War Project: “The Circumstances of Death report indicates that he was killed by a German sniper. He was shot through the right breast and died shortly after being hit. Private Price took shelter in a house and the occupant told him to be careful. Price proceeded from the house and was shot.”
George Price died at 10.58 a.m., just two minutes before the ceasefire, at the age of 25.
Sources
“Canada’s Last Man to Fall.” Kathleen Harris, Canoe News, November 11, 2008.
“The Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War.” Colonel G.W.L. Nicholson, Queen’s Printer, 1962.
“The Armistice.” firstworldwar.com.
© Canada and the World, September 2011
All rights reserved
The grave of Private George Lawrence Price in the Saint Symphorien Cemetery in Belgium.
Of the more than 626,000 Canadians who enlisted to fight in World War I more than 67,000 killed and 173,000 wounded.
Remembrance Day is set aside each year to honour Canadians killed in combat.
A minute of silence is observed at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month. This was the time on which hostilities officially ended World War One.
The last Canadian veteran of World War One — John Babcock — died in February 2010 at the age of 109.