William enlisted into the R.A.M.C. on 12th March 1915. He was 20 years and 10 months old, a Miller by trade, and living at 21 Frome Street, Belfast at the time. He entered the war in France on 27th October 1915 but by December 1915 was taken into hospital in France for 6 days with a bad cold, cough and a pain in his right side. On 12th October 1916, William went sick again with bronchitis, which resulted in him being evacuated to England on 30th October. Doctors found TB in the sputum and as a consequence he was diagnosed as suffering from tubercle of lung - not caused but aggravated by active service. He was discharged "no longer physically fit for war service" on 14th December 1916, authorized at the Military War Hospital in Chatham. William was the husband of Emma White of 20 Sylvan Street, Belfast; and father of Eileen May.