Last Soldier to Perish in the Great War

[DougB]

Why I collect is a thread I did in GHW2.

Please read the thread.

http://www.walhalla.se/topic/38323-w...re#entry428060

MaHood died several hours from wounds suffered in the attack on Mons. He was severely wounded Nov 10, 1918. He died Nov 11 a few hours before the war ended. He served the entire war. I own his medals and they are in a special place in my collection and in my heart.

I visited his grave a year ago making a special trip to it in Valenciennes. Here he is in pic 7 and his grave.

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[MD Helmets]

Regardless of who was the last to die, it was all a tragedy nonetheless. Like the Kennedy Assassination and who fired the first shot Lexington, we probably just will not ever know.

[CampX]

Thanks For the Photos Doug, the 116th is my Local Battn, and as for Price, I understand he is not far from the First British Soldier Killed during the War. I saw that on a TV Special last year

Dean O

[DougB]

Hi Dean, yes he is buried about 100 yards or so away from the first British soldier killed here at St. Symphorium Cemetary, one of the most beautiful and haunting of all the Commonwealth War Graves I have visited. I don't have a photo of his grave on my iPad but I have paid my respects to his gravesite on 3 separate occasions.

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[CampX]

Thank you for that Doug!!!

Dean

[993ti]

Here's something i keep thinking; did they actually keep record who fell first and last?
It's like the first and last killed get a special place while everybody fought the same war.

[Wagriff]

Here's something i keep thinking; did they actually keep record who fell first and last?
It's like the first and last killed get a special place while everybody fought the same war.

You would be amazed...they have done this in virtually every modern era war that I know of-even from the US Civil War. It's Government being overly minute, is all.

[DougB]

I found this photo on my iPad.

Here is the final resting place of John Parr, the first British soldier killed in the Great War. His grave is on the left, although off the top of my head I cannot remember which the exact one is but I believe it is the one with the Canadian flag.

He faces George Edwin Ellison, the last British soldier killed during the Great War. As I said earlier the war is filled with irony such as this.


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[DougB]

St. Symphorium is a war Cemetary that is by far my favorite (as strange as it sounds), as I said it is spectacular and quiet, somber and haunting and filled with irony. It doubles as both a German and Commonwealth War Grave site, used by both armies in the conflict and is near to where the war began and ended for the Commonwealth vs the Germans.

Here are some photos that give some idea as to what I mean. And like a poster said, many died in the war why is the first and last special? Well the first is the first of millions of tragic deaths and the last represents the final shot of the conflict - and the peace that followed.

But as this cemetary shows, they must all be remembered.

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[MD Helmets]

Here's something i keep thinking; did they actually keep record who fell first and last?
It's like the first and last killed get a special place while everybody fought the same war.

It's not as much about the actual person who was first or last, it's more about them holding the distinction of being the first or last person. Not that those who fell between the first and last are any less important or for their sacrifice, just someone had to be first and someone had to be last. It's like Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon. He was the first so his name is well known for being the first. But he really just holds the place in history of being the first human, not that it was Neil Armstrong the man per se. Someone had to be first. Coincidentally, no one celebrates or recalls who the last man was to walk on the Moon. I hope I'm making sense.