A Generation Curtailed: The Lifespans of Canada’s Pensioned Veterans of the Great War

Authors

Jonathan Scotland

Abstract

Despite long-time interest in links between the Great War and concepts of a Lost Generation, there have been few efforts to study veteran lifespans. The death dates of Canadian pensioned veterans recorded in the Department of Veterans Affairs pensions files, combined with those recorded in department’s death cards, offers an opportunity to quantify not just veteran life expectancy, but actual lifespans. The ensuing analysis of pensioned veteran lifespans suggests that research conducted in the mid 1930s by F. S. Burke for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which concluded that pensioned veteran life expectancy would exceed that of the average Canadian male, was incorrect. Instead of living longer than the average Canadian male, based on the Pension Sample compiled for this study, it appears that the number of pensioners who died young after the war is almost as high as the number of soldiers killed during the conflict.

Recommended Citation

Scotland, Jonathan "A Generation Curtailed: The Lifespans of Canada’s Pensioned Veterans of the Great War." Canadian Military History 32, 1 (2023)