Last Canadian WWI Combat Vet Dies

[scm77]

Canada Loses World War I Combat Vet

Canadian Press

May 8, 2004

GARDENA, Calif. (CP) - The last surviving Canadian combat veteran of the First World War has died, in what Veterans Affairs calls another blow to the country‘s living history.

Clifford Holliday, a U.S. citizen who was born in Plumas, Man., died Tuesday at his home in southern California, at the age of 105.

"We lost a national treasure, actually a binational treasure," said Janice Summerby, a spokeswoman with Veterans Affairs Canada. "Our living history is ebbing away."

"He pretty much passed away on his own terms," longtime friend Robert Johnson told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif. "He was a pretty determined person and he was ready to go."

Only eight of the 650,000 Canadians who served in the war remain and Holliday was the last who fought in combat, said Shane Diaczug, communications director for the Canadian minister of veterans affairs.

© The Canadian Press 2004

 

[1feral1]

The end of an era, and another Canadian living treasure has passed, but the legend will continue, and their spirit exists in us all.

All were soldiers and men, who answered the call for Canada. Their toilings are now our history, and places such as Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, Hill 70, Canal Du Nord, and others will never be forgotton, even now, some going on 90 years later.

Its now up to the new generation of Cdn soldiers to carry the torch.

lest We Forget those who suffered, served and died, and endured things we cannnot even comprehend. He like the others, has gone to ‘the last reunion‘.


Wes

 

[lostgrenadier]

I remember vividly the C.O.s parade in the early eighties when the Regiments surviving WWI vets asked formal permission to stand down and be excused further parade duty as they were too old and frail to continue. To see these proud and noble heroes request their leave with such pride, dignity and grace, moved me to tears and probably made me stand a foot taller with pride on the square that day, and still chokes me today when I think of it. Honour them as long as they are among us, and forget them not when they pass on.

 

[Limpy]

As veterans being our only living link to the past, and the fact that they are passing on at a fast pace, I look at some of my peers and think they have learned nothing from people like Clifford Holiday. They take Remembrance Day as just another day to get high. Kind of scares me

 

[Guardian]

May Clifford Holliday, and all his comrades-in-arms, rest in peace.

That's a good point, Limpy, and it's unfortunate. Perhaps if we actually taught history properly in schools, and impressed upon the kids that freedom is never given, but is earned and paid for with blood, then maybe Remembrance day would receive the respect it deserves.

Then again, since even our 60-something-year-old PM can't keep "Normandy" and "Norway" straight, I may be asking too much. The problem's deeper than just this generation of kids...

 

[Limpy]

True that.