Gardiner, Private William John

Service highlights

  • Service number: 401532
  • Date of birth: 30 Dec 1887
  • Enlisted: 30 August 1915 (London, Ontario)
  • Occupation at enlistment: farmer
  • Initial unit: 33rd Battalion, CEF
  • Wounded: gunshot wound to the thigh, with fracture of the left femur
  • Discharged: 22 December 1919 at London, Ontario, medically unfit for general service

A Life and Service Remembered

William John Gardiner was a farmer from Huron County who enlisted in London, Ontario, in late summer 1915. He went overseas with the 33rd Battalion, a unit that, early in its overseas service, was used primarily to supply reinforcements to the Canadian Corps in the field rather than fight as a battalion on its own.

For William, like many men in the reserve system he was later posted to an active unit in France, according to detailed unit war diaries and regimental histories, at this time the Royal Canadian Regiment was on the Western Front in the Lens and Bourlecq area, holding the line and engaging in trench warfare. William’s medical records show he was serving with the Royal Canadian Regiment when he suffered the gunshot wound to his thigh severe enough to fracture the left femur, followed by the long, grinding medical chain that so many wounded men endured, hospital stops, surgery, imaging, and recovery measured in months instead of days. He survived, but the injury never truly left him. William was discharged in London in December 1919, medically unfit for general service, carrying the cost of that wound into the rest of his life.

William’s story is quieter than his brothers but is a reminder that the war kept reaching into the same households again and again, even after they had already paid more than most. His brother Earl’s name is recorded among the fallen, and Edwin’s as well, while Robert served on, carrying the burden of continuing duty while the family endured those losses. William’s name is not commemorated on a cenotaph with his brother’s Earl and Edwin. He lived on with an injury that would have been a constant reminder of the price of freedom and of his family’s war.

Major battles and operations (dated)

  • 30 Aug 1915: enlisted (London, Ontario) download (1)download (1)6: overseas service with the 33rd Battalion; the unit was redesignated as a reserve batdownload (1)ovide reinforcements
  • 1918: gunshot wound to thigh with fracture of left femur; evacuation and hospital treatment download (1)
  • 22 Dec 1919: discharged on demobilization, medically unfit for general service (London, Ontario)

Learn more (copy/paste links)

https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record?idnumber=410094&app=pffww&ecopy=340919a
https://canadiangreatwarproject.com/person.php?pid=983799
https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B3410
https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/robert-lindsay-gardiner-24-2gt8yy?geo_a=t&geo_s=us&geo_t=ca&o_iid=41015&o_lid=41015&o_sch=Web+Property&geo_v=2.0.0

https://regimentalrogue.com/rcr_great_war/1918_05_may.html
https://rcl236stmarys.ca/cenotaph/gardiner-private-edwin-lincoln/
https://rcl236stmarys.ca/cenotaph/gardiner-private-earl-edward/
https://rcl236stmarys.ca/cenotaph/gardiner-private-robert-lindsay/