In World War One, Canada sent 619, 636 soldiers overseas to fight in one of the deadliest conflicts of human history.

Of them, nearly 67,000 never came home, 6,400 of those being from Saskatchewan.

George Lawrence Price was one of them, and actually spent a fair amount of his life living in Moose Jaw. 

He would become known as the final commonwealth soldier killed in World War I.

"Private Price was a young man who came out west from Nova Scotia where he was born and he grew up there and then he came out west to find a new life," said former officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, Lyle Johnson, who also spent 45 years working with the cadet program, "Price was a working man and lived in a boarding house down on River street and when the war broke out, he was continuing to work but as events happened for him, he volunteered to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force."

Pvt. Price would never make it back home to Moose Jaw, being killed just two minutes before the war officially ended.

On October 15th, 1917 Pvt. Price enlisted with the 210th Infantry Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was transferred to a few different battalions over the next few months until he

A memorial set up at the site of George Prices death (Veterans.gc.ca)eventually landed in the 28th Canadian Infantry Battalion on June 1st, 1918.

On November 11th, 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 9:00 am, that's when the battalion received news that all hostilities would cease at 11:00 am.

Pvt. Price and a group of other soldiers decided to begin searching houses for German soldiers. It was at this point when Pvt. Price approached a house, knocked on the door, and was answered by a family. Unbeknownst to Price, they were German sympathizers. He asked the family if any German Soldiers were inside and was told "No". As Pvt. Price turned around to head back to the street, a German sniper - who had been set up across the street in a different house - shot and killed him at 10:58 am.

Governor General Julie Payette speaks in front of the monument set up for George Price in Belgium (veterans.gc.ca)

A number of memorials have been set up in honour of Pvt Price in Belgium, where there is a school named after him, a large footbridge - which was set up near the site where he was killed, as well as a memorial plaque which was set up on the house he was shot in front of. The house has since been torn down, but the plaque remains. There is a large monument set up in the village of Ville-sur-Haine.

There is, however, no memorial or plaque set up in Moose Jaw in his honour.

Johnson reflected on the importance of sharing Private Price's story.

"I think it's certainly important that we recognize our history and where we fit in it and where people from our community fit in it. This is a significant thing."

Johnson continued, going into detail about his tour of France and Belgium in 2007.

"I had the opportunity when I was with the 90th anniversary of Vimy Ridge, we went over to France and Belgium and did some touring, and Private Price's grave is in a cemetery that's very close to Ypres, but only 20 yards away there is the grave of the first soldier ever killed in the war."

In 2015, the municipal school of Ville-sur-Haine was named George Price School.(veterans.gc.ca)