Regimental Number: 101381
Rank: Private
Branch: 66th Battalion; 49th Battalion
William was born in Nashua, Iowa on June 1, 1876. He enlisted in Grande Prairie on September 21, 1915. On October 10, 1916, just four months after arriving in France, William died at the Casualty Clearing Station Special Hospital in Warloy-Baillon, France. He had been wounded in the legs on the German wire and bound up his own wounds and those of two other soldiers. According to Col. Griesbach’s battle report, “German bombers endeavored to bomb the shell hole… he caught the German bombs in his hands and threw them away… he crawled away from his shell hole and was again bombed; endeavoring to catch and throw these latter bombs away, one of them exploded in his hands…” Col. Griesbach gives further details of Hannigan’s injuries and journey to the Field Ambulance where he died of his wounds (see link below).