838271 L/Cpl. William Bruce Cumming Dunn was born on August 26th, 1897, in Owen Sound, Ontario - a busy port city on Georgian Bay. William was working as a sailor when he attested to the 147th Battalion on December 29th, 1915.
Billeted locally over the winter the unit left for training at Camp Niagara in the Spring of 1916. As the conditions in the Camp were wanting the unit moved to the new training facility of Camp Borden in late June. In September the unit received their orders to proceed overseas, but due to an outbreak of diphtheria they were detained in Amherst, Nova Scotia, for over a month. The unit finally sailed for Great Britain, on November 14th 1916.
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. On April 22nd, 1917, William was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. in a reinforcement draft after the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
William continued to serve with the unit through the remainder of the war, rising to the rank of Lance-Corporal, and was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. on August 7th, 1919.
Biography and image credit: George Auer.