Private William Oliver

Private William John Oliver, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry ( Eastern Ontario Regiment ). He died from wounds in Belgium in No. 44 Dressing Station on 22nd October 1917, aged 34, during the Battle of Third Ypres. He was the son of John and Mary Oliver and is buried in Nine Elms British Cemetery, near Poperinge, Flanders, Belgium. He was born in Berwick in December 1882 and after emigrating to Canada he was employed as a carpenter before enlisting in the 13th Canadian Mounted Rifles in September 1915. He joined the “Princess Pats” in the field on 30th October 1916 and took part in the capture of Vimy Ridge in April 1917. On October 20th he was passing through Ypres with the Pioneer Section when he was severely wounded in the head by shell fragments and died next day in the Dressing Station. His Headstone is inscribed ” Blessed Are The Pure In Heart”. The photographs give some idea of the devastated nature of the Flanders battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile drainage systems.