Who was the last person to die in WWI?

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Henry Nicholas Gunther lived a quiet civilian life before the war.

He worked as a bank clerk and belonged to a German-American family who, like many others, faced suspicion during the conflict.

After he enlisted in 1917, he joined Company A of the 313th Infantry Regiment within the 79th Division of the U.S. Army.

Due to a censored letter that criticised military conditions and discouraged enlistment, he was demoted from sergeant to private, but desperately wanted to restore his reputation.

On November 11, 1918, his unit advanced near Chaumont-devant-Damvillers in the Meuse region of France, where Gunther made a decision that cost him his life.

At 10:59 a.m., just one minute before the ceasefire, he charged a German machine gun post.

Soldiers on the other side had already begun to stand down and waved him away.

Even so, Gunther pushed forward and was shot through the head. Some sources suggested that the German unit belonged to the 25th Division, which had already started to withdraw.

According to American records, his death was the last combat fatality suffered by U.S. forces in the war.

Several years later, he was restored to the rank of sergeant after his death and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

To many contemporaries, his needless death showed the tragic pointlessness of the war’s final moments.

The official time of his death is recorded as 10:59 a.m.

Among soldiers from the British Empire, George Lawrence Price is often named as the last to die.

He was born in Nova Scotia and had been conscripted under the Military Service Act.

After training, he joined the 28th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was sent to the Western Front.

On November 11, his unit reached the town of Ville-sur-Haine in Belgium. At that point, many troops had already heard that the armistice had been signed.

Even so, Price’s company continued operations near the Canal du Centre. At 10:58 a.m., just two minutes before the ceasefire, he was shot by a German sniper while he was moving near a row of houses at 1 Rue Grande.

Reports say he collapsed into a fellow soldier’s arms and died instantly.

Canada officially recorded Price as the final Commonwealth soldier to fall in the war.

In the years that followed, the site of his death became a place of remembrance. A plaque was placed nearby, and a local street was named in his honour.

On the 100th anniversary of the armistice in 2018, the town dedicated a footbridge across the canal as the George Price Footbridge.

His story now appears in national histories as a symbol of duty fulfilled too late.

Among the French, Augustin Trébuchon, who was born in 1878, had served for several years and worked as a runner for the 415th Infantry Regiment.

That role required him to carry written orders across dangerous terrain, which often exposed him to enemy fire.

Shortly before the armistice took effect, his unit received instructions to continue attacking German positions near Vrigne-Meuse.

As he delivered a message, which instructed soldiers to gather for a meal after the ceasefire, he was hit by a single bullet.

The shot killed him instantly. Later reports claimed he still held the message at the time of death, although some accounts suggested this detail came from later retellings rather than official records.

Runners like Trébuchon faced a high risk of death, as their movements made them easy targets for snipers and machine gunners.

Later, the French Army recorded his death as having occurred on November 10, as some historians believe this change in date was meant to prevent public outrage over unnecessary combat on the final day.

Today, his name appears on local war memorials, and recent interest in his story has grown.

His death now raises important questions about military orders and the final decisions made by commanders.

Across multiple nations, different men have been identified as their country’s final wartime casualty.

In Britain, Private George Edwin Ellison was killed near Mons early on the morning of November 11.

He had fought for several years and died only a few kilometres from where British troops had first engaged the enemy in 1914.

His death occurred at approximately 9:30 a.m. 

By chance, his death mirrored the beginning of Britain’s involvement in the war.

Another British soldier, Private John Parr, who had been killed near the same location in August 1914, was just sixteen years old when he died.

The symmetry of their deaths gave many in Britain a sense that the war had come full circle. 

On the German side, the identity of the final fatality was reportedly uncertain, and several sources suggested that the last German soldier may have been killed by Gunther’s final charge.

Since many German units had begun pulling back before 11:00 a.m., accurate records of those last deaths, which were often incomplete, were rarely kept.

Among Australian forces, Private Edward Dougherty of the 55th Battalion was killed during a late-morning advance.

While not officially listed as the final Australian casualty, his unit, like others, had continued to press forward before the ceasefire.

Other reports suggested that Belgian and American casualties were reported to have occurred after the agreement had been signed but before it took effect.

Among them was Belgian soldier Antoine Fonck, who was reportedly killed at 10:45 a.m. 

Ultimately, the exact final death of World War I cannot be known for sure.

Different armies recorded their losses differently, and the chaos of the last hours left many deaths unconfirmed.

Even so, the stories of Gunther, Price, and Trébuchon each offer a clear view of the human cost of prolonging combat when peace had already been won.

In the years that followed, many veterans and politicians were joined by grieving families and publicly criticised the decision to continue attacks during the armistice window, which they viewed as a reckless waste of life.