Regimental No: 1251256
Rank: Gunner, Bombardier
Regiment: 78th Depot Battery Canadian Field Artillery, 12th Canadian Siege Battery
Bill was born in Chilliwack, British Columbia on September 10, 1894, the seventh son of Samuel James and Agnes Jane (Knight) Turner.
When the First World War broke out, Bill and his two brothers, Archibald Albert (Al) Turner and Charles Thomas McLinden Turner enlisted. He enlisted on May 25, 1917, at Calgary, AB at the age of 23, although his attestation papers have the birth year of 1895 making him 22. Prior to enlisting Bill had served in the 103rd Rifles.
Bill’s attestation papers are dated May 25, 1917, Calgary, AB. He embarked at St. Louis on December 19, 1917, disembarking in Glasgow, Scotland on December 31, 1917, and landing with 12th Canadian Siege Battery as reinforcement for 3rd Battery Canadian Garrison Artillery. He served in France and Belgium with the British Expeditionary Forces and was wounded in the field on October 7, 1918, by a gunshot wound to his right thigh.
Bill was discharged through Toronto, ON, on May 15, 1919, on demobilization, arriving on the ship HMT Mauritania which disembarked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on May 9, 1919.
After the war, the Turners returned to Calgary, then moved to the old Bezanson townsite in 1920, where Bill’s father, Samuel Turner, had previously scouted the land for himself and his sons Bill (who filed on the NW quarter of 28-71-26-W5), Charles, Al, and Cliff in anticipation of their return from the war.
Bill did not stay in the area long. He moved to the United States where he met and married Mary Finley Murdoch Hastie on December 22, 1927, in Glendale California, USA and they lived in Los Angeles, where Bill worked his way up to Senior Building Inspector for the city of Los Angeles. Their son, James Wilmot Knight Turner (married Joann Sampson), was born October 2, 1929, in Los Angeles.
Bill died on March 4, 1956, in Los Angeles, CA, and his wife Mary died March 4, 1966, in LA.
Source: Peace River Country Land Settlement Database, Official birth, marriage, and death certificates, obituary, grandniece Suzanne (Turner) Dunn.