Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 23 continued.... PRIVATE GEORGE LAWRENCE PRICE, #256265 George was born on December 15, 1892 in Kings County, Nova Scotia, the son of James E. and Annie R. Price of Port Williams, Nova Scotia. He moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan as a young man to work on the fall harvest. George Price did not actually volunteer to serve in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, rather he was drafted under the "1917 Military Service Act". George had been working as a farm labourer near Moose Jaw, SK and his employer did not pay him the wages owed. He took bedding in lieu of payment, and his employer pressed theft charges. "The judge said go to jail or join the army." He enlisted in the 210th Infantry Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force on October 15, 1917 and received basic training in Regina before he was posted overseas. He transferred to the 15th Canadian Reserve Battalion on February 6, 1918 and to the 28th Canadian Infantry Battalion on May 1, 1918. He was gassed on September 8, 1918 in the Canal-du-Nord area, sent for treatment then returned to his unit on September 26, 1918. Private George Lawrence Price was killed in action 10:58 a.m., November 11, 1918, the last Allied forces fatality of the First World War. He is buried at the St. Symphorien Military Cemetery in Belgium. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. It has been widely reported that George Lawrence Price was the last Canadian Soldier killed in the Great War. The following is a story entitled “The Last Patrol” by James McWilliams, which gives a stirring account of the last moments of WWI on the Western Front, and of Private George Price’s short life.
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