Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Mathers
Royal Canadian Regiment

… when Bill Mathers got wounded an amusing situation developed. Mathers was standing out in the open pointing here and there as he gave out some orders. Sandy cautioned him about snipers, but he took no notice. All of sudden, Wham! and he got the slug through the upper right arm. Fortunately he had just turned on his heel at the time or he would probably have got it through the heart.

(Strome Galloway, Some Died at Ortona, 193)

Born in New Westminster, British Columbia on 11 October 1910, William Whelan Mathers was a University of British Columbia graduate and Permanent Force officer, commissioned with the RCR in 1936. He went overseas with the regiment in December 1939 but immediately transferred to staff and instructional duties in England. Having belonged to the Officers’ Training Corps at UBC, Mathers became chief instructor at the Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU) in Camp Bordon, Sussex.

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