And then there were two...

Only two Canadian veterans of the First World War remain after Lloyd Clemett passed away on Wednesday February 21st. Mr. Clemett, who enlisted when he was 16, never saw battle but was on his way to the front when armistice was declared.

Clemett enlisted in the army in 1916, a month after turning 16, following in the footsteps of his three older brothers who had already left for the battlefields.

Remarkably, all four would later return home — though one suffered shrapnel injuries to the head. He would survive to the ripe old age of 96.

Clemett was sent to England, where a concerned colonel transferred him to the forestry brigade upon learning the teen's young age.

When the brigade was deployed to France a year later, Clemett repeatedly volunteered to go to the front lines and was headed there when armistice was declared on Nov. 11, 1918.

"It was all over a month or so before I reached the front line. I was within the sounds of the heavy guns and that was it," he said.

There was no disappointment, but no excitement either when his battalion heard news that the war was over.

"No hurrahs," he said of the reaction. "The war was over. That was all there was to it."

He said he never regretted joining the army and realized how lucky he was to return home, but lamented that the war was in vain.

"The war accomplished nothing. Eventually things settled down and we get into the old style of life again," said Clemett.

Take a moment and remember this brave man who was willing to risk it all at such a very young age. Never forget.

[cross-posted to bound by gravity]