Private William Edward Ball

William Ball was the son of Charles and Jane Busby Ball who lived in Milton under Wychwood, Oxfordshire, England. They had two sons and two daughters living at home. William was born on June 21, 1897. The family immigrated to Paris in 1913. Charles, the eldest, was 15 and employed as an apprentice decorator. He served in WW1 and was killed in action.

William Ball enlisted with the 21th Overseas Battalion in Burford on June 1, 1916. When he enlisted at 17 years of age, he was a driver. He lived with his parents at Paris Junction. He had been a member of the 25th Brant Dragoons.

William left for England on April 25, 1917, aboard the S.S. Olympic and arrived on May 7 when he was transferred to 2nd Canadian Reserve Battalion. After rigorous training in England, he went to Europe with the 116^th Overseas Battalion on September 13, 1917. During late October 1917, the 116th Battalion was stationed in the Ypres Salient near Wieltje and Waterloo Farm, moving in and out of the frontlines as part of the devastating Battle of Passchendaele. On October 26 and 27, the 116th Battalion moved up to the forward area under terrible weather conditions. The mud was so thick that moving a few hundred yards took hours. The area was under continuous, heavy German artillery bombardment using both high-explosive and gas shells. On October 28, the unit was engaged in intense "carrying party" duties and holding front-line positions under relentless enemy shelling. A "carrying party" was a designated group of soldiers tasked with manually hauling hundreds of pounds of gear on their backs through the mud to the men fighting on the front lines. Because the ground was a morass of deep, water-logged shell holes, the men had no deep trenches for cover. They were entirely exposed to flying shrapnel from artillery bursts. The battalion sustained a steady stream of casualties on this day entirely due to this heavy shellfire.

Private William Ball was struck by shrapnel or shellfire on the battlefield. He received a shrapnel wound to his right shoulder. He was taken through the mud and artillery fire to No. 11 Canadian Field Ambulance and then two days later was transferred to No. 6 General Hospital in Rouen. He was discharged to 2nd Canadian Depot on November 25, 1917 and then transferred to Lord Strathcona’s Horse in the field on April 11, 1918.

On October 13, 1918, he became ill in France and was transferred to No. 4

Canadian General Hospital, Basingstoke, England on Oct. 27, 1918 for treatment of Bronchopneumonia and was discharged from hospital on January 16, 1919. He was discharged by a medical board in England on March 2, 1919. After returning to Canada, he received his final discharge certificate was dated April 8, 1919 at No. 2 District Depot in Toronto.

William married Grace Stewart in Paris on October 29, 1921 at which time he was a machinist. By 1931 he and Grace were living in London, Ontario with their 5-year old son. William worked as a machine repairer in a hosiery mill. Tragically, his son died at age 11 when the family had been living at R. R. 1, Forest, Ontario for two years. Private William Edward Ball is buried together with his wife and son at Beechwood Cemetery in Forest, Ontario.