The medals (left), memorial plaque and headstone of George Lawrence Price, the last Canadian killed in the First World War. Price was shot by a German soldier just two minutes before the Nov. 11 armistice. Photos courtesy of the Canadian War MuseumA medal set belonging to the last Canadian soldier killed in the First World War arrived at the Canadian War Museum earlier this month.
The medals belonged to George Lawrence Price, who is known to have died just two minutes before the armistice came into effect on Nov. 11, 1918, according to Eric Fernberg, a collections specialist at the museum.
Price, 25, was part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was not only the last Canadian soldier killed, but also the last Commonwealth soldier to die in the1914-1918 war, Fernberg explained.
Born in Nova Scotia, Price worked in Saskatchewan before being conscripted to fight. It was 10 months after he left Canada on the HMS Scotian when Price was fatally shot by a German soldier while patrolling in Belgium.
Price’s medals are a noteworthy addition to the museum’s collection of more than 1,300 military awards. The artifacts are tangible links to the people who have served Canada in past conflicts, said Fernberg.
“Every medal set we acquire for the museum is important in its own right,” he said.
As for the medals earned by Price, who died so close to the end of what was known at the time as the Great War, Fernberg said: “I think it speaks to the sadness.”
They are especially significant since Price was killed immediately before 11 a.m., when everyone was to stop shooting, he said.
“I think it’s a sad and tragic tale that reminds us how fraught the dangers are even if one is minutes away from a ceasefire.”
The medal set consists of what is known as the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, Fernberg explained.
Both were awarded to the vast majority of Canadians who served in the CEF at the time, he said.
A memorial plaque, which was given to Price’s family and to all families of those killed during the war as recognition of their sacrifices, was also given to the museum, he said.
The medals were previously held at the Royal Canadian Legion branch in Kentville, N.S.
The legion’s curator, Bill Schofield, said Price’s family donated the medals to the Kentville branch in the 1960s.
“They were displayed on a little frame on the wall,” Schofield said. “They’ve been down there for a while and I don’t think a lot of people really knew the story about these medals,” he said.
Schofield came to know the story behind the medals when he started his research on them this summer.
When he told his wife about his findings, she told a co-worker who happened to be the daughter of Price’s nephew.
“That’s how it all started,” he said.
After uncovering Price’s story and talking to George Barkhouse, Price’s nephew, the Royal Canadian Legion decided that the medals should go to the Canadian War Museum.
“That would be the best place (for the medals) to be put on display for the public to see and hear the story of the soldier,” Schofield said.
It was always the family’s wish to see the medals go to the main national museum of Canadian military history, he added.
Barkhouse said the museum was considered the best repository for the medals “mainly because it’s probably one of the safest place in the world.”
He also explained the family believed the Canadian War Museum would be the place where the medals would be seen and appreciated the most.
Price’s story is already on display in the LeBreton Flats museum’s First World War gallery. His name also appears on the screen in the lobby of the museum as part of The World Remembers exhibit. Two minutes at a time, the exhibit displays the names of soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War.
Price’s name was scheduled to be displayed last on Remembrance Day.
Price’s medals will be put on display in 2018 for the exhibition titled Last Hundred Days, an examination of the final push to the Allied victory in the First World War.