Lance Corporal William John “Billy” Huston was the first local casualty of World War One. Billy Huston was a sharp shooter and is remembered in this feature article by Mark Chochla.
Huston was a Fort William Alderman in 1910 and 1911. An expert marksman and member of the Fort William Rifle Association and the 96th Lake Superior Regiment, Huston enlisted with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry with the encouragement of Major General Sam Steele. This put him into the war, as a sharpshooter, almost a year before the local 52nd Battalion entered the fray. He was killed in action at La Bassee January 25, 1915.
Read Huston’s military records through Library and Archives Canada.
Read Huston’s entry in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
World War One Thunder Bay Centennial Project 