William was born in 1882 in Lindsay, the youngest son of Thomas and Eliza O’Neill. Like many of his family members, William worked as a labourer in farming community as an Egg Candler, moving to St Thomas for work around 1911-12 and enlisted in Nov 1915 with the 91st Battalion.
On 26 June 1916, he sailed for France with 1400 men from the St. Thomas area on the Olympic, which was the sister ship to the Titanic. It had been stripped of all its posh and comfort, and converted into a troopship. When they arrived in France, the 91st was broken up and the men distributed to 23 other units on the battlefields across France and Belgium as reinforcements. William was sent to the 38th Battalion, who were part of the 4th Canadian Division, 12th Canadian Infantry Brigade.
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On 25 Dec 1916, William first went into the trenches along Vimy Ridge, and was there until his unit was relieved on 28 Mar 1917 for rest before “the big show” as it was referred to in the 38th Battalion war diary.
On 4 Apr 1917, William went back into the line and was part of the northern assault on Vimy Ridge that started on 9 April 1917. On 10 Apr 1917, he was promoted to acting corporal, likely as a result of battlefield losses after the main Vimy assault. His unit was relieved from the line after the main offensive, and on 19 Apr 1917 was sent to a position east of Vimy Ridge, towards Lens. It was from this position that the attack on Hill 70 would be staged in a few months.
Boulogne
On 28 Apr 1917, William James O’Neill suffered gunshot wounds to his head, neck and arm, and was first transported to the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, before being moved to the 13th Canadian Stationary Hospital in Boulogne, France where he died of his wounds on 4 May 1917 at 35 years old. He is buried in the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. He left behind his wife Mary Ellen and three children, William, Gordon and Mary.
