Not Quite the End

I just want to say that this isn't quite the end of Jack's story. I'm still doing research and will post when I can, but it will not be as often. I have, however, started a new blog, called Glory and Grief which will tell my Granddad and Edward's story of their service during the Second World War. I highly recommend you check that out.

Thank you to all my readers and all those who commented and emailed me. I appreciate your interest in my great-grandfather's story.

 

Canada's last First World War Veteran, John Babcock, passes the Torch on to Canada's Veterans.

"We must never forget our fallen comrades. I pass this torch of remembrance to my comrades. Hold it high,"

Pittance of Time....

November 11th 1918

 And when they ask us / How dangerous it was
Oh we'll never tell them / No we'll never tell them
We spent our pay in some café / And fought wild women night and day
T'was the cushiest job we ever had.
And when they ask us / And they're certainly going to ask us
The reason why we didn't win the Croix de Guerre
Oh we'll never tell them / No we'll never tell them
There was a front / But damned if we knew where.

Soldier's song form the First World War

I did a brief overview of this a few months ago when I was covering the last half of Jack's war service. I'll give a recap of this time to save you from going back through the blog (though I encourage it!)

Finally released from the Epsom Convalescent Home (where he was recovering from his bout with appendicitis and a foot injury) Jack soon found himself back in the hospital. This time it was with influenza. Jack would not recover till January.

On November 11, 1918, when the armistice was announced, Jack was in the hospital. He was lucky. For months before hand the Canadian Corps had been fighting a series of campaigns against German forces, that became known as Canada's Hundred Days. The attack of appendicitis at Passchendaele and the foot injury might have saved Jack's life. For his comrades, even though the armistice was signed at 5am that morning, the war was still on. The previous day, General Currie ordered elements of the Corps to liberate Mons. By the 11am, the town, the site of beginning of the War, was liberated. The Canadian Corps suffered 280 casualties, including Pte. Price, who died at 10:58.

 

Canadians enter Mons

At 11am, after four years of war, the guns were silent. 68,000 Canadians were killed, about 10% of those who went over. Over the next few years more soldiers would die of old war wounds. Some remained hospitalized for the rest of their lives from injury or shell shock. Many more like Jack, went home and got on with their lives and made an effort to forget. They were just more casualties in a war long over.

1914-1918 Vigil Continued..

1914-1918 Vigil

Starting tomorrow at sunset and going to sunrise on November 11th, the names of all 68,000 Canadians killed in the First World War.

The Last Man

Born on December 5 1892 and conscripted in 1917, George Lawrence Price is considered to be the last Commonwealth soldier killed in the First World War.

On November 11th, George's company was ordered to take the village of Havre. After crossing the Canal du Centre into the town of Ville-sur-Haine, George and his patrol moved toward a row of houses, intending to catch a German machine gunner. After going house by house, pursuing the machine gunner and other German soldiers, George stepped out onto the street where he was shot by a German sniper. The time was 10:58am. Two minutes later the Armistice came into effect, the war was over.

George Lawrence Price is buried in St. Symphorien Commonwealth Cemetery, 75 metres away from John Parr, the first soldier killed in the First World War. In 1968 the men from his company erected a plaque in his memory.

To the memory of Private George Lawrence Price 256265 of the 28th North West Battalion, 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division, killed in action near this spot at 10.58 hours, November 11th, 1918, the last Canadian soldier to die on the Western Front in the First World War. Erected by his comrades, November 11th, 1968

Keep the Memory Alive

 From the Royal Canadian Mint and the Legion you can buy a 2008 Limited Edition Poppy Bookmark, (featuring the new 25 cent Poppy coin, a dollar from each sale will go to the Legion's Poppy Fund) a limited edition Poppy silver dollar or a Commemorative set, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War (I picked that one up for myself.)

Link here to watch the ad

Head over to Ranting Owl to see Edward's service record....