838139 Pte William Buzza MacArthur was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, on September 6th, 1897 to Dougal and Mary MacArthur.
Living with his family in Owen Sound, William was working as a clerk when he joined one of the two independent rifle companies being raised for overseas service by the 31st Regiment. All the men in these two companies would be reassigned to the new county unit being raised for the C.E.F.
Nineteen year old William attested into the 147th Battalion on November 30th, 1915, becoming one of the unit's signalers under the command of Lieutenant Jucksch. He was billeted locally, over the winter, until the unit left for training at Camp Niagara in the spring of 1916. As the conditions in the Camp were wanting the unit moved to the new training facility of Camp Borden in late June. At the end of September, the unit received their orders to proceed overseas, but it was detained in Amherst Nova Scotia for over a month when a number of soldiers contracted diphtheria. The unit finally sailed for Great Britain, on November 14th, 1916, aboard the S.S. Olympic.
On January 1st, 1917, the 147th Battalion ceased to exist when it became the nucleus for the 8th Reserve Battalion, whose task it was to supply reinforcements to the 58th and 116th battalions as well as the 4th C.M.R. Private MacArthur was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. on March 7th, 1917 in the build up for the Battle of Arras, where the Canadian's stormed Vimy Ridge.
William was attached to the 3rd Entrenching Battalion during the battle; rejoining the unit on April 12th. On May 28th the battalion moved into Brigade support and began supplying work parties. On the morning of May 31st, William was one of two battalion runners who had just returned from delivering orders. He and Pte Miller were both wounded while sitting down outside their dugout when Miller kicked his heel into the ground accidentally setting off a small explosive device. Receiving shrapnel wounds to his right leg and buttocks, William was medically evacuated to England and wouldn't return to his unit until March of 1918.
Upon his return, William was attached to the to the 8th Brigade as a signaller, serving in that capacity during the battles of Amiens and Arras 1918. It was during the Battle of Cambrai that William was gassed on October 2nd. Medically evacuated to Boulogne, William spent a month in hospital, before returning to the 4th C.M.R., where he would serve out the remainder of the war.
Returning to England in early February, the 4th C.M.R. sailed home aboard the HMT Carmania in March. Arriving at the Port of Halifax the unit boarded the trains for the journey to Toronto. Pulling into the Toronto North station at 08:00 p.m. on March 19th, the unit was greeted by the ringing of church bells, accompanied by the blowing of factory horns and whistles. Forming up, the unit then paraded through the crowds lining the torch lit streets to much fan fair. Arriving at the University Armoury, all military decorum was lost as the crowds of well wishers broke into their ranks to greet their returning loved ones.
838139 Private William Buzza MacArthur was struck off strength and discharged from the Canadian Expeditionary Force later that day. Returning to Grey County, William would marry Elsie McFarlane in 1925 and begin a family of their own. Widowed ten years later he would remarry Ruby Leslie in 1947. William passed away on April 6th, 1961 and was laid to rest in Owen Sound's Greenwood Cemetery.
William's military service is remembered locally on the memorial scroll hanging in Owen Sound's First Baptist Church. A scroll that that not only shows William was known fondly as "Buzz", but more importantly it gives us some insight into the human cost of the war. Of the eighty-two members of the congregation listed on the scroll, twenty of them were wounded and twelve of them did not return home.
Biography credit to George Auer.