Regimental Number: 782362
Rank: Private
Branch: 128th Battalion; 28th Battalion
Bill was born in Hereford, England on December 23, 1889. He came to Canada in 1913 with Percy Stephens, though it wasn’t until 1915 that they came to the Peace country and filed on homesteads in Beaverlodge (16-72-10-W6). Bill traveled to Moose Jaw to enlist in April of 1916. He was severely wounded at Passchendaele on November 6, 1917; he received shrapnel wounds to his left leg, left arm, and face. Bill was dangerously ill for a few months after this injury and on December 31, 1917, his leg was amputated. He was sent back to Canada in June of 1918. On August 30, 1920, Bill married Edith H. Stephens, whom he had met in London during the war when he went there to visit with Percy. Edith had come to Canada in 1919, after being discharged from the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. The couple farmed in the Beaverlodge area until 1948, when they retired and moved to Langley, BC. Bill died in Langley on December 9, 1955 and was buried in Albright.
Sources: Beaverlodge to the Rockies p. 20; see HT December 20, 1955