838035 Pte. William Edward Carr was born on December 22nd, 1898, in Owen Sound, Ontario.
William would join the independent Infantry Companies the 31st Regiment was recruiting and as a result was being billeted in Owen Sound when the 147th (Grey) Battalion was authorized.
Attesting to the 147th Battalion on November 27th, 1915, as a 16 year old Private, William was assigned to "A" Company under the command of Captain Thomas Howson Corrie.
Continuing to be billeted locally over the winter, the Battalion departed for the training grounds of Camp Niagara on May 19th, 1916. As the conditions in the Militia's old training grounds were wanting the unit moved to the new training facility of Camp Borden in late June to carry on with their individual and collective training.
In September the unit received their orders to proceed overseas, while en-route they were detained in Amherst, Nova Scotia, for over a month due to an outbreak of diphtheria. The unit finally sailed for Great Britain on November 14th, 1916, on the S.S. Olympic, a sister ship to the Titanic.
On January 1st, 1917, the 147th Battalion ceased to exist when it became the nucleus for the 8th Reserve Battalion, whose task it was to supply reinforcements to the 58th Battalion and the 4th C.M.R. Of the 942 Officers and men that sailed with the 147th Battalion, 354 of them were transferred to the 4th C.M.R., and William Carr would be one of them when being taken on strength by his new Battalion on February 17th, 1917.
William served with the 4th C.M.R. in the Battle of Arras 1917, that saw the Canadian Corps storm Vimy Ridge. Continuing to serve through the summer of 1917, the trials of Passchendaele and into the Final Hundred Days.
Private William Edward Carr was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. without any noted wounds, on April 25th, 1919.
Biography credit: George Auer