Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Great War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Great War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
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263557
Sgt. James McBain Willsher
British Army 10th Mounted Bty. Royal Field Artillery
from:Leslie, Fife, Scotland
James Willsher was born in Paislie, Scotland in 1893. He joined the Black Watch before the start of WW1.
On 4th of August 1914 he proceeded to France. He was wounded in France and returned to London. In 1916 he was sent back to France. In 1918 he was with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Egypt, and in Palestine he was a sergeant in the 10th Battery, Mounted Artillery.
While in Palestine, a shell exploded near him and caused some loss of hearing. His unit rested between Bethlehem and Jerusalem behind Rachel's Tomb and then continued fighting northward of Jerusalem. He was still in Palestine in January 1919. He returned to Egypt and then back to England, where he received his discharge in July of 1919. He immigrated to Canada in the early 1920s.
When WW2 began, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as an ordinary airman and served in Canada until the end of the war. He wore 4 medals from WW1 - 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Territorial Force EFF Medal, and 2 medals from WW2: 1939-1945 War Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal. His Volunteer Button was 20223. He died in Calgary, Canada in 1975.