Sunday 2 November 2008

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

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