[Regina]

With the death of First World War veteran Lloyd Clemett late Wednesday, Canada is one step further away from a key period in its military past.

Clemett, 107, was one of three surviving veterans of the First World War.

With his death, only Dwight (Percy) Wilson and John Babcock remain.

At 16, Clemett was the youngest of a band of brothers to answer the call to fight in the First World War.

In 1916, after telling military recruiters he was 18, Clemett left Toronto and followed three older brothers to Europe, and eventually to the battlefields of France.

"It was something you had to do, so you went and you did it" was the explanation Clemett offered when asked why he went to war, his son David told The Canadian Press in an interview.

"It's really something that he never elaborated on, he never talked about when I was growing up. It was just a fact, that at some point in time he was in the First World War.''

Clemett began his military career in England.

"He went when he was 16, he got sent over to England and was working with the lumber group over there, doing timber," said his niece, Merle Kaczanowski.

"It was at the very last, when they needed more people, he actually did get shipped over to France."

However, the presence of his older brothers helped ensure his survival, helping keep him off the front lines near St. Vast, France, where his division was sent.

Lloyd even volunteered for the frontlines several times.

"His brothers intervened, they said, 'No, no, Lloyd stays with us, he's not going anywhere,' '' said Clemett. "I think that's how he ended up in the forestry division.''

It wasn't until one month before his 19th birthday that Clemett received his marching orders to join the others on the frontlines. However, on the very day his battalion was supposed to move to the front to help with the fight, the Armistice was signed, his son told CP.

Clemett then returned home to Canada with his three brothers, where he eventually took a job as a railway agent.

He also played for the Brampton Maple Leafs in the 1920s, coached women's softball and opened a lawnmower repair business.

He married his wife Catherine in 1936, and the couple had two sons, raising their family in Toronto.

His wife died in 1993, but Clemett continued living alone until 2003, when he moved into the veteran's residence at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.


His son said he remained in "pretty good physical shape" until about age 103, when his hearing and vision began to fail.

State funeral

Last November, the House of Commons voted unanimously favor of an NDP motion asking the government to sponsor a full state funeral when the last First World War veteran passes away.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said government should recognize that a state funeral would celebrate "the contribution of a whole generation of Canadians who served, whether overseas or here at home and their families as well."