Lieutenant Colonel W.J.A. Lalor, M.C.
2nd Motor Machine Gun Brigade

This Officer gives a history of four years service in France, as a Machine Gun officer. Towards the end of his service, he states, he was developing symptoms of a fear neurosis, and this was finally precipitated by being blown up … There has been a strong tendency to repress his Overseas experiences, and towards self-reproach, as a result of his break-down. He states, now, he is afraid of the crowds, and cannot go to a Theatre. He is afraid to go over a bridge for fear that he will jump off. He has not made up his mind about his future.

 (Maj. A.A. Fletcher, Neurological Report, 13 Nov 1919)

Born in Muskoka, Ontario on 22 May 1878, William James Austin Lalor was a prospective homesteader in the west when the Great War broke out. He enlisted with the 1st Battalion in September 1914 and went to France in February 1915. Shortly thereafter he transferred to the Machine Gun Brigade, earning the Military Cross and a promotion to captain.

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