Private George Lawrence Price the last Canadian combat casualty two minutes before the ceasefire of 11:00 am, 11 November 1918.
Price now rests in St Symphorien Military Cemetery along with the first Allied combat casualty of the Great War, Private John Parr.
Early Life of George Price
Born in Falmouth, Nova Scotia, on 15 December 1892, the son of Annie and James Price, George grew up in what is now Port Williams, Nova Scotia.
As a young man, he moved west, ending up for a time with Canadian Pacific Railway in Moose Jaw, Sask.
He made headlines there for an unfortunate aside – stealing “a quantity of house effects,” including dishes and linen, from his landlady. The value of the goods, a then-significant $25. He served one month in prison with hard labour.
Drafting of Private George Lawrence Price
On 15 October 1917, Private George Lawrence Price 256265 drafted under the military service act of 1917 which had become law on 29 August 1917. He joins the 210th Infantry Battalion (Frontiersmen) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Moose Jaw. George stood 5′ 8″ tall, with medium complexion, brown eyes and hair.
210th Canadian Infantry Battalion
Organized in March 1916 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel F W Pawlett. Mobilized at Moose Jaw, and recruited in the Moose Jaw district. Embarked from Halifax 11 April 1917 aboard CARPATHIA. Disembarked England 22 April 1917 with a strength of 18 officers, 462 other ranks. Absorbed by 19th Canadian Reserve Battalion on 22 April 1917.
George completes his basic training with the 1st Saskatchewan Depot Battalion in Regina on 4 December 1917, Lt-Col H G McVean approving.
England
From Regina, George travels to St. John’s on 21 January 1918 where he embarks on a journey to England and arrives at Liverpool on 6 February 1918. He joins the 15th Canadian Reserve battalion at Bramshott.
George then enrolls in the 28th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Saskatchewan North West Regiment).
France
Private George Lawrence Price crosses from Southampton to Boulogne and arrives at Etaples-sur-Mer on 2 May 1918 to re-join his unit on 1 June 1918, where he serves in A company.
28th Battalion establish a Signalling Post
From 15 to 17 August 1918, stationed at Damery (Marne) and then fights at Villers-Bretonneux (Somme).
On 26 August 1918, his brigade assists in the capture of Monchy-le-Preux and Wancourt.
Then on 28 August, a significant part of the German defence of the Fresnes-Rouvroy sector captured.
From 2 and 3 September, the Drocourt-Quéant line reached.
Wounded
Pte Price gassed on 8 September 1918 in the North canal area and sent to the 1st Canadian Casualty Collection Station to be treated. Then sent to the 26th General Hospital in Etaples. He returns to his unit on 26 September 1918.
From 27 September to 1 October, George participates in the battle of the Canal du Nord (Sains-les-Marquion – Moeuvres sector) with the capture of the villages of Marquion and Bourlon.
On 8 and 9 October Cambrai taken and then follows the pursuit of the retreating German Army. Denain, the battle of Valenciennes and the capture of Mont Houy on 1 and 2 November.
The Final Push
From 5 to 7 November, the passage of the ‘Grande Honnelle’ (Quiévrain – Crespin).
Finally, on the evening of 10 November, the 28th battalion ordered to move forward from Frameries, cross the ranks of the 29th battalion and continue towards Havré in order to secure the bridges of the ‘Canal du Centre’.
On 11 November the battalion starts at 4:00am, crosses Hyon and heads for the wood of Havré, pushing back weak German resistance and reaching their position along the canal opposite Ville-sur-Haine at 9 am. At that time the Battalion receives a message announcing that all hostilities will cease at 11am.
Machine gun fire or Sniper
Price and seasoned veteran Pte Arthur Barrett Goodmurphy 105410, decide on their own initiative to go on a patrol with five men to search houses on the other side of the canal. They start to examine the houses one by one when they see German soldiers with machine guns along a wall overlooking the canal. There is an exchange of fire and the Germans retreat.
Price fatally shot by a sniper as he leaves a house and dies at 10:58 hours, two minutes before the ceasefire. The battalion war diary notes Price killed by an enemy machine gunner at 10:50 hours.
Circumstances of Death Register
Price’s CoD card indicates he was shot at 10:57 hours by an enemy rifle bullet (not a machine gun) and died shortly afterwards. The discrepancies between the unit war diary and CoD provided different accounts of how George died, some even suggesting a young woman had come to his aid while his blood ran out. Somehow, ‘authorities’ came to the conclusion Price the second to last Allied soldier to die (the last ‘awarded’ to an American soldier).
Combat casualties continued after 11:00 hours, many units on both sides not having received news of the ceasefire. Far more succumbed to their wounds later, but the final combat casualties came in June of 1919 – German sailors the week prior to the Treaty of Versailles.
St. Symphorien Military Cemetery
Price initially buried in Havre Communal Cemetery, Grave 2, but his body later transferred to Saint-Symphorien Military Cemetery to rest with his comrade Pte Lawrence Sullivan of the 21st Battalion, killed on 9 November 1918.
The cemetery remained in German hands until the end of the war, and afterwards came under the care of the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission. It also contains the graves of Commonwealth and German soldiers who died in the final days of the conflict, including George Ellison of the Royal Irish Lancers and George Price of the Canadian Infantry. Ellison and Price were killed on 11 November 1918, and are believed to be the last Commonwealth combat casualties of the war in Europe.
George Lawrence Price Memorial
There is now a memorial in Havre near the footbridge where Price was killed.
The George Price Memorial has been in the works for almost two years and was actually the vision of Mr. Lyle Johnson, who first presented it to the fellowship and had full support from the Fellowship right from day one.
Roy Labuick, Chairman of the Friends of the Forces Fellowship
Along with a large memorial and a school named after him in Ville-sur-Haine, Belgium.
History is written by Victors
It does not matter whether the Victors or the Conquered write history, as long as the truth written.
Scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow
In the final engagement of the Great War, unlike so many battles, Germany can rightly claim a decisive victory. The German High Seas Fleet decided to sink as many of its own ships as possible to prevent them from falling into Allied hands. In total, 52 of 74 ships sabotaged to keep them from Britain, France, Italy and the USA. Most of these nations wanted a share for their navies, and knowing she could not have them all to herself, Britain wanted the ships scrapped to prevent other nations from gaining naval superiority.
Admiral von Reuter
The final battle casualties of the Great War occurred on this engagement, with nine German sailors killed and sixteen wounded by the British during brawls when they refused to help save the ships. For his part, Admiral von Reuter imprisoned along with 1,800 of his men, but released the following year. Upon his return to Germany, praised as the man who had preserved the honour of the German High Seas Fleet (in typical fashion, Freemantle had angrily accused von Reuter of having behaved without honour).
Final Casualties of the Great War
MAAT Hans Hesse, S.M.S. Bayern, died 21 June 1919. Remembered with Honour.
BOOTSMANNSMAAT Hermann Dittmann, Torpedoboot V126, died 21 June 1919. Remembered with Honour.
OBERMASCHINIST Gustav Pankrath, Torpedoboot V126, died 21 June 1919. Remembered with Honour.
KORVETTENKAPITAEN Walther Schumann, S.M.S. Markgraf, died 21 June 1919. Remembered with Honour.
MASCHINIST Wilhelm Markgraf, Torpedoboot V126, died 21 June 1919. Remembered with Honour.
OBERMAAT Friedrich Beicke, Torpedoboot V126, died 21 June 1919. Remembered with Honour.
HEIZER Karl Funk, Torpedoboot V127, died 22 June 1919. Remembered with Honour.
Kuno Eversberg
The final combat casualty of the Great War
MASCHINIST Kuno Eversberg, S.M.S. Frankfurt, died 23 June 1919. Remembered with Honour.
Kuno shot and killed while being held as a POW on HMS RESOLUTION in Scapa Flow overnight on 23/24 June 1919, and later laid to rest in Lyness Naval Cemetery. A witness, Able Seaman John Copland said that Able Seaman James Wolley had told him that he was going to shoot a German, however witnesses did not believe him. Able Seaman James Woolley stood trial for the shooting, but a jury returned a verdict of not guilty, not being able to determine who had fired the fatal shot. Kuno shot at 00:10 a.m. on 24 June 1919. He died on 29 June 1919 aboard the hospital ship Agadir, and became the last combat casualty of the Great War.
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