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Record #18311
Name :
: William WATERSON (1897 - 1918)


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 5 Mar 1897

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
: 10 Aug 1918   Notes : Killed in Action
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Norfolk, Norwich
Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialFrance
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: 9 May 1913
Country
: Canada

Ship
: Empress of Britain

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Sailing Alone
NotesAge 21 Son of William Waterson of 19 Union St Cooks Place Norwich Norfolk England, 195236 Private
William Waterson

2nd Btn Cdn Inf (Eastern Ont. Regiment), Army
Date of Death: Died of wounds 10th August 1918
Next of Kin listed as Mrs. E Waterson, 19A Union Street, Crooks Place, Norwich, Norfolk.
Commemorated at:
Crouy British Cemetery Crouy Sur Somme, Somme, France
(information from the Maple Leaf Project)

William enlisted on October 15, 1915 in Peterborough, Ontario.

First World War medals coming home

By Galen Eagle, Peterborough Examiner
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:10:21 EDT AM

It's 1918 in the midst of the First World War when a young man and his Canadian infantry party were crawling through the dirty banks of a trench taking on enemy fire at close range.

The young man was an English orphan named William Waterson who came to Peterborough as a home boy at 16 to work as a farm labourer. As a member of a Peterborough militia, Mr. Waterson signed his attestation papers to join the war in October 1915 as an 18-year-old.

With his party taking on fire in the trench that day, Mr. Waterson crept within yards of an enemy post and unleashed his Lewis gun, a light Second Word War-era automatic machine gun.

That didn't effectively silence the enemy, so Mr. Waterson joined another man, worked up the trench and charged the station, killing at least 10.

That horrific account of trench warfare was found in several paragraphs in the Nov. 15, 1918 edition of the London Gazette, mere days after the end of the war.

The account was the impetus behind Mr. Waterson's awarding of the prestigious Distinguished Conduct Medal, the second highest commendation for a non-commissioned officer.

By the time that account was published, Mr. Waterson was already dead, having been killed in action Aug. 10, 1918 at the age of 21.

What happened to his medal is unknown, except that it eventually returned to England where it was put up for sale on eBay last week with two more of Mr. Waterson's war medals.

Cue Dave Thomson, a St. George, Ont. man, who has an unusual hobby. For years Thomson has been trawling eBay for Canadian war medals in an attempt to reunite them with descendants or communities. He's reunited some 585 medals across Canada.

On April 2, Thomson contacted The Examiner and local veterans advocate Dave Edgerton and a campaign was launched to purchase the medals and return them to Peterborough.

In less than a week Edgerton, the former Royal Canadian Legion Branch 52 president who spearheaded the campaign to build the Wall of Honour, had $2,900 in donations and pledges.

On Monday night, Thomson successfully convinced the British seller to remove the medals from auction and privately sell them to Edgerton for 2,000 British pounds, the equivalent of about $3,185 Canadian.

"This is a community heirloom," Thomson said. "It is going to be a good feeling for the people of Peterborough to know that they have rallied behind this and they are bringing their hero home."

The seller's grandfather had been close friends with Mr. Waterson, Thomson said, and the man was selling some possessions, having fallen on tough financial times.

"Once I told him that these were going back to Peterborough, this fellow's adopted home, (the seller) was absolutely elated. The medal was something he cherished," Thomson said. "He has had these medals for years."

Edgerton is still looking to raise another $500 to meet the price of the purchase, shipping and framing of the medals.

He is in talks with the city about having the medals mounted in the Memorial Centre, he said.

Edgerton praised Thomson's keen interest and said the medals would never have come to the attention of Peterborough residents without his help.

Thomson said he gets a thrill out of making a successful reunion.

"That's the joy I get out of this, notifying families and communities and bringing back a piece of their hero's history," he said.

Anyone interested in pledging money to the Edgerton's campaign can contact him at 705-745-9083.

Full military file online:
{website}data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/cef/10001-11000/10122-11.pdf

Find A Grave Memorial# 56040495 
ContributorsCreated : 2012-11-21 08:06:20 / From original database

Last Updated : 2015-09-03 23:25:53 / alanmack

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Surnames starting with:   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  3 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
10716 WATERSON, Gladys1900ENG, NFK, Norwich Jun 1910 : Sicilian CAN Barnardos  
15103 WATERSON, John T1876ENG,     Oct 1884 : Peruvian CAN Board of Guardians (Various)  
18311 WATERSON, William1897ENG, NFK, Norwich May 1913 : Empress of Britain CAN Sailing Alone