Last commonwealth soldier killed in First World War from Moose Jaw

The final commonwealth soldier killed during the First World War has connections to Moose Jaw.

Pvt. George Lawrence Price was born and raised in Nova Scotia but moved out west to Moose Jaw where he enlisted 210th Infantry Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Months after being enlisted he would be transferred to the 28th Canadian Infantry Battalion on June 1st, 1918. 

Price would never return to Moose Jaw. 

On Nov. 11, 1918, the 28th Battalion had orders to advance from their current position just south of Mons, Belgium, to the village of Havre. While they had pushed the light German resistance back just past Havre by 9 am, the battalion received news that all hostilities would cease at 11 am. 

Price and a group of other soldiers decided to begin searching houses for German soldiers.

"He decided to break cover. He exited the building in order to commence clearing the next building in line. It was to be his last act, for he was felled by a single shot, a sniper bullet through the heart," said Royal Regina Riffles Honorary Lt.-Col. Randy Brooks, recalling Price’s final moments in battle. 

Price was shot and killed at 10:58 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, two minutes before the armistice took effect. 

There is now a memorial in Havre near the footbridge where Price was killed along with a large memorial and a school named after him in Ville-sur-Haine, Belgium. 

Brooks also noted that Price, the final commonwealth casualty of the war, is buried next to the first commonwealth casualty of the First World War. 

Price was one of 6,400 soldiers from Saskatchewan that never made it home after the First World War. 

After many years, a plaque in Moose Jaw commemorating Price’s sacrifice was unveiled in Crescent Park in 2021.