124302 William Johnston

Enlistment

On 01 Nov 1916 Bill was working on his father's farm, and decided to enlist. He lied about his age as the service records show his birthdate as 1896.

He enlisted in Windsor, Ont and was assigned to the 70th Battalion. The battalion was authorized on 15 August 1915 and recruited in the Ontario counties of Essex, Kent, Lambton and Middlesex.

Pocket Watch

Prior to leaving for Europe, Bill’s mother Ada gave Bill the gift of a Pocket Watch. Bill took it with him to war and we like to think it brought him home safely.  Bill’s grandson, Paul Allen was given that same watch when he entered Royal Military College.

Overseas

The 70th Battalion trained together, and sailed from Halifax on 24 April 1916 aboard the SS Lapland, disembarking on 05 May 1916 in England.

58th Battalion

The 70th Battalion provided replacements for units already in France. On 18 Jun 1916, Bill was assigned to 3rd Cdn Division, 9th Infantry Brigade, 58th Battalion B company.

Bill joined the 58th as part of a draft of 152 replacements, immediately after the Battle of Mont Sorrell. The 58th had suffered 400 casualties since landing in France in February. The photo shows the level of devastation at Sanctuary Woods.

The 58th spent the next 2 months alternating in the front lines at Zillebeke with training behind the lines.

58th Battalion Progress

58 Battalion landed at Le Havre on 22 Feb 1916 and moved into the area around Ypres. On 07 Sep 1916 they moved into the Somme, and fought in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 16 Sep when William was wounded.

 Interactive Battalion Progress 

Moving to the Somme

On 08 Sep 16, the 58th moved by train and a series of route marches, arriving at Usna Hill near La Boisselle on 15 Sep 16 ready to engage in the Battle of Flers/Courcelette.

Battle of Flers/Courcelette

On 16 Sep 1916, The 58th Battalion moved into position near the Chalk Pit to support an attack on the Zollern Redoubt. The attack did not succeed so the Battalion dug in near the Sugar. Bill Johnston was wounded in the arm.

The 58th moved again on 18 Sep, suffering heavy casualties, then moved to the front line. On 20 Sep the launched a surprise bombing attack on the Zollern Trench, which did not succeed and the Battalion suffered heavy casualties. The German counterattack the next day failed, and the 58th moved out of the front lines.

Summary for September: 48 killed, 198 wounded, 19 missing.

Bill Johnston Wounded 16 Sep 1916

Service records indicate Bill was wounded in the left Arm on 6 Sep 1916, and spent 2 days in Number 3 Canadian General Hospital station in Boulogne, France.  Since the soldier in the phot was wounded in the left arm, we have claimed this is Bill's photo, without any justification.

The wound was reported as small entrance wound 4 inches above the left elbow.  No exit wound indicated that the bullet was still in his arm.  

No 3 Canadian General Hospital

Number 3 Canadian General Hospital station in Boulogne, France was staffed by doctors from McGill, and most of the nursing staff came from Montreal.   Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae , a Medical Officer in the Canadian Field Artillery, was transferred to No. 3 in June 1915 and commanded it until his death from pneumonia in 1918. McCrae was famous as the author of the poem “ In Flanders Fields ” written after the  2 ^nd  Battle of Ypres 

The hospital admitted 17787 casualties Jul - Sep 1916, and evacuated 17160 in the same period.

1st Birmingham War Hospital

The Rubury Asylum near Birmingham was converted to a War Hospital in Jul 1915 to treat the mounting casualties.

Bill was evacuated to the hospital on 20 Sep 1916. He had the bullet removed from his arm during his stay.

Canadian Convalescent Hospital, Bromley, Kent

The Bromley House Hotel had been leased and made available to the Canadian government by Harold Kennedy, a lumber merchant of Quebec.

The Canadian Convalescent Hospital was opened in May 1915 and provided long term care of Canadian Soldiers.

Bill was at the hospital from 27 Oct to 07 Nov 1916.

Canadian Military School, Crowborough Shoreham

By Dec 1916 there were more than 130,000 CEF soldiers in the UK, so new camps were developed at several locations including Crowborough.

Crowborough was the site of Canadian Machine Gun Training as well as Engineering training so Bill was likely on the training staff. He here from Nov 1916 to Mar 1917.

Canadian Military School, Bexhill

The Training school was moved to Bexhill in Mar 1917, as Crowborough did not have a parade ground, and Bexhill provided a better area to construct representative practice trenches to better train new soldiers.

Bill was in Bexhill from May 1917 to January 1918. Bill received a reduction in pay for a loss by neglect, of a pair of trousers.

General Depot, Shorncliffe

On 16 Jan 1918 Bill was assigned to the General Depot at Shorncliffe.  Shorncliffe was a major Canadian Training Centre, and the large Canadian presence impacted the local population, as they took on the mannerism and speech patterns of the Canadian Soldiers. Photo shows a trench training area.

Bill was promoted to Acting Corporal in Aug 1918, got married in Sep 1918, then was hospitalized for Influenza in Oct 1918.

Wedding

It was during the posting to Shorncliffe that Bill met Annie Goodfellow, who was working as a barmaid in Folkestone.  They were married in Elham, Kent in September 1918.

Returning Home

Bill and Annie both traveled to Canada on the SS Melita in February, 1919. They arrived in St John on 03 Mar 1919, and Bill was discharged from the CEF on 24 Mar 1919.

Life in Canada

Shortly after their return, Bill and Annie moved to Bothwell and had 5 children: Marjorie (1919), Sameul (1920), Lillian Mae (1922), Muriel (1924) and Louie (1927).

In 1926 Bill moved to Phelps township following his younger brother George, to take advantage of a government program to provide free land for northern homesteaders.

As can be seen in the photo, their house was built with logs stacked vertically rather than horizontally. This picture was taken not long before Bill's passing.