Last Canadian Wounded WW I

Friday, November 11, 1938
 
Last Canadian Wounded in War Former St Thomas Man
 
Kenneth Lawrence Received Leg Injury, Necessitating
Amputation, Three Minutes before “Cease
Fire” Order Given

Brantford: Nov. 11 – He may have been the last casualty among the whole of the British forces in France and it is fairly certain that he was the last Canadian wounded before the order “Cease Fire!” went down the line twenty years ago today. He is Kenneth Lawrence, 37. Edwin street, this city, who was identified a few years ago from a picture published in Canadian newspapers. Caption for the picture, an official one, declared it had been taken in a Canadian casualty clearing station at Valenciennes where nursing sisters were ministering to Lawrence, whose left leg was riddled with machine-gun bullets fired from a German nest at three minutes to 11 on that memorable November day two decades ago.

The youth in the picture (Lawrence was just 17 then) was unknown until a friend recognized him and turned the picture over to him. “That’s me.” Lawrence said. “I remember it all too clearly.”

On the eve of another Armistice Day, Lawrence, a tall, powerful, good-looking man, with his left leg missing below the hip, remembers once more when he was just three minutes from death and not that far away from an amputation.

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What Were the Chances

Lawrence, a native of Michigan, was advancing at Valenciennes. He had been with the battalion but __ week, returning to the lines after recovering from the effects of being gassed.  Lawrence said a rumor had been circulated that morning that the firing would be over at 11 a.m.  The rumor began about 9 a.m. and the men believed it, but they didn’t stop going. Approach of the war’s [end] didn’t make any of the party any more careless, Lawrence says.

“We didn’t think the war was over and we could do what we wanted. We were going up in the proper order, sort of making a last stand and we didn’t know anything was in front of us. In fact, we had been told by scouts there was nothing to be afraid of."

Caught Flat-footed

“When they opened fire we were caught flat-footed. The bullets must have gone right under my body. I dropped to the ground and come up into my leg, carrying the [dirt] with them.”

Lawrence never learned what happened to the German machine-gunner. If he lives today he probably wonders how many [__ __] those last few minutes.  [___ ___] wounded one boy. No one else in the party was hit, as far as Lawrence could find out.

Lawrence convalesced [_______] and later returned to [St. Thomas, afterwards he moved to Brantford. He first enlisted in the Canadian Mounted Rifles and wound up with [the 18th Battalion. He is [Amputations A___]   [The remainder of the clipping is missing]

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