Cyrillus-Camillus Barbary (4 August 1899 – 16 September 2004) was the last known Belgian veteran of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was born in

Klerken Klerken is a village in Province of West Flanders in Belgium. It forms a part of the commune of in Houthulst. It was first mentioned in a letter by Arnulphus the Elder from 961 and the village's archives survive from as early as 1653. Notable buil ...

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

. He served on the Western Front in the (''2de Linieregiment'') for the last months of the war, between May 1918 and January 1919. Barbary worked as a mason and emigrated to the United States with his wife Emma in 1923. The couple had three children. He visited Belgium for the last time in 1997. As a result of his emigration, he was ignored by official commemorations of the last surviving veterans in Belgium.

Paul Ooghe Paul Ooghe (17 May 1899 – 8 September 2001) was a Belgian soldier who, and at the time of his death, was incorrectly believed to be the last surviving Belgian soldier to have seen combat in World War I. The actual last surviving veteran, Cy ...

was widely reported to have been the last surviving Belgian veteran at the time of his death in 2001. Barbary died in Detroit on 16 September 2004 at the age of 105.

References

1899 births 2004 deaths Belgian centenarians Men centenarians Belgian emigrants to the United States Belgian Army personnel of World War I People from Houthulst Belgian Army soldiers {{Belgium-mil-bio-stub

See also

References