[ninty]

Canada loses World War I combat vet


Canadian Press


Saturday, May 08, 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.

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Its too bad all these guys are gone now. Just think, in 20 years there will be no WWII vets left.