Regimental Number: 18208
Rank: Corporal
Branch: 9th Battalion; 1st Field Butchery, Canadian Army Service Corps
Willis was born in Goderich, Ontario in August of 1894. He came across the Edson Trail in 1912 with his father, David Alexander Johnston, and five brothers, and filed on a homestead at SE 26-71-3-W6. Willis enlisted in the Canadian army in September of 1914. Three of his brothers – Hugh Norman, William Earl, and Charles Bell – also served overseas. Willis was listed as dangerously ill and died of influenza on January 3, 1919 at the No. 62 Casualty Clearing Station, which was at Courtrai (Kortrijk), Belgium.
Sources: Smoky River to Grande Prairie p. 18; Centennial Celebration Edson Trail p. 114; photograph courtesy of Wanda Zenner