Among the men preparing for that battle was Private William Mears, a recent immigrant to Canada whose war would be decided on the slopes of the ridge. This is a fictionalized account based on actual records.
Canadian soldiers advance at Vimy Ridge, France, April 1917. The battle marked a defining moment in Canada’s emergence as a nation on the world stage. William Mears was twice wounded on the first day of battle.
I did not come to Canada looking for war.
I arrived in 1913, stepping off a ship at Quebec City and into a country that felt open and unfinished. There was work if you were willing, and I was. By 1915 I was in Winnipeg, living at the Commercial Hotel on Main Street, earning my pay as a teamster. When I attested for the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 19 November 1915, I did so as a man who had already worn a uniform once—about a year with the West Somerset Yeomanry in England—and who believed he knew what soldiering meant.
They gave me a number—187640—and from that day forward, I belonged to the army.In May 1916, we sailed from Halifax aboard the S.S. Olympic. She had once been famous for luxury; now she carried soldiers. England felt less like home than a place funneling men toward something none of us could fully describe. From there, the war pulled us forward—across the Channel and into France.
By the autumn of 1916, I was serving with the 24th Battalion. Winter settled in, and with it came constant preparation. We trained over trench models, studied maps, and rehearsed our movements until every man knew his role. The ridge ahead of us dominated the landscape and our thoughts.The attack began before dawn on Easter Monday, 9 April 1917. Snow fell as the guns opened and the earth shook under the weight of the barrage. We followed it forward, close enough to feel its force. Men fell. Others pressed on. By the end of the first day, much of the ridge was ours. By 12 April, the last resistance had been overcome.
For Canada, it was a victory. For many of us, it was also a turning point.During the fighting, I was struck—gunshot wounds to the head and left leg, and then a shell explosion that left me buried to the point of suffocation in the dirt and mud. I remember flashes and noise, then hospitals: Wimereux in France, then across the Channel to England, to Sheffield and a series of Canadian hospitals. The wounds healed, the records said. But something else had been damaged.
By late 1917, doctors called it neurasthenia—shell shock. I was dizzy, unsteady, unable to return to duty. On 23 January 1918, I was honourably discharged as medically unfit.Civilian life did not come easily. I worked when I could, but the headaches and strain remained. In 1919, I was again under military care at St. Anne de Bellevue Hospital. Treatments were tried and stopped. The final note in my case file reads simply: No improvement.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9–12, 1917) resulted in over 10,600 total Canadian casualties, with 3,598 killed and approximately 7,000 wounded. It was a significant, yet costly, victory for the Canadian Corps, with most casualties occurring on the first day, April 9.
Vimy Ridge did not end the First World War, but it changed Canada’s place within it. For the first time, the Canadian Corps fought as a unified force and succeeded where others had failed. The victory became a symbol of national maturity and military competence.
For men like William Mears, Vimy was both triumph and dividing line. Before it lay immigration and possibility; after it came wounds that followed them home.
Editorial Reference
- Attestation Paper, William Mears, 19 Nov 1915.
- Ancestry Fact Page timeline and service records.
- Overseas Service Record (Pay): S.S. Olympic.
- Canadian War Museum and Veterans Affairs Canada: Battle of Vimy Ridge.
- Medical History of an Invalid; Medical Board Proceedings, 1917–1919.
Smith Family Roots Ancestor
Mears, William (1895-1982)
WW1 Service Record: William Mears
| Service Detail | Information |
| Regimental Number | 187640 |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Unit / Battalion | 91st Battalion (Winnipeg Rifles) / 11th Battalion |
| Date of Attestation | November 19, 1915 |
| Theatre of War | France and Belgium (Western Front) |