Kerns, William Kenneth Atkinson

SOLDIER DETAILS:

Kerns, William Kenneth Atkinson
Private 102nd Battalion 663592
March 9, 1919
Bodelwyddan (St. Margaret) Churchyard, Flintshire, United Kingdom
Enlisted at Milton with 164th Battalion, born in Burlington
Maple Leaf Legacy Project

Victoria Park Cenotaph
R. Laughton

Bodelwyddan Churchyard Commonwealth War Graves

Virtual War Memorial

Private Kern is remembered on the Milton Cenotaph as W. K. Kearns.

Private Kerns is buried in England, at the Bodelwyddan Churchyard, as he died after surgery in the UK. There over 80 Canadians there, many of whom died of Influenza during repatriation.

Other Links:

	CEFSG Matrix Unit Information - 102nd Bn
	Library and Archives Canada - 102nd Bn
	102 Battalion War Diary October 4, 1918
	Nicholson Chapter 14 and Map 13

SOLDIER SUMMARY:

Private Kerns was born in Burlington, Ontario, south of Milton and was son to Edward Bruce Atkinson and Sarah Kerns of Zimmerman, Ontario. He attested to the 164th Infantry Battalion on March 23, 1916. From there he passed through the 2nd Reserve Battalion prior to his service posting with the 102nd Battalion (4th Division, 11th Infantry Brigade) on February 28, 1918.

On October 4, 1918 Private Kerns was sent "dangerously ill" to the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station with appendicitis. The unit had recently returned from front line duty at Bourlon Wood at the Battle of Canal du Nord and Cambrai. See Nicholson Map 13. The unit had been on loan to the 3rd Division (Nicholson pg 449).

He was subsequently sent to the No. 8 Stationary Hospital Wimereux and then admitted to hospital in Manchester, England. October26, 1918 where he received surgery. He was discharged "fit for duty" to the 8th Reserve Battalion in Witley on January 31, 1919.

Private Kerns was admitted to Kinmel Park Military Hospital with severe abdominal pains at 4 pm March 7, 1919. He subsequently died at the No. 9 General Hospital Kinmel Surgical Hospital at 8 am March 9, 1919 after surgery to relieve and intestinal obstruction. His service record is very detailed on this event.

The soldier pages contain information that is available from a number of resources. The following hyperlinks are active where the information is available:

	Soldier Name: Veteran Affairs Canada, Canadian Virtual War Memorial
	Soldier Number: Library and Archives Canada, Attestation Papers
	Cemetery: Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Debt of Honour Register
	Remembrance: Maple Leaf Legacy Project, Remembrance of Canada's War Dead

The summary of the service is taken from the soldier's service records, if they were available from Library and Archives Canada. A complete copy of the service record is available in electronic and paper format in the Alex Cooke Memorial Archives at the Milton Historical Society. Using that summary, combined with the key references, a summary of the events leading up to the death of the soldier has been prepared. The research information available is as noted on the Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group web site Matrix Project as well as in the Library and Archives Canada On-Line War Diaries.

A summary of all the soldiers is contained on the Web Blog "Great War Soldiers of Milton, Ontario CANADA". Please also be sure to purchase your own copy of "Milton Remembers World War I - The Men and Women We Never Knew" by John Challinor II and Jim Dills, edited by Ken Lamb.

Milton Historical Society

William Kenneth Atkinson Kerns