From the News

Man poses as a Hero of Vimy Ridge

Toronto Evening Telegram

This man may be Pte. Williard Hambleton, born in York County, Ontario, and enlisted in the 257th Battalion¹ at Brantford, Ontario in January 1917. Further research is required to confirm. No other available attestations can be connected to this report.

Dated: October 3, 1917

POSED AS A WAR HERO

Pte. Hambleton Had Nerve and Imagination, And Cut Swath in West.

Windsor, Oct. 3. -- Willard Hambleton, ex-restaurant cook and ex-private in the Canadian forces, whose soldiering lasted but four months, and whose discharge papers laconically describe his services as "nil", was picked up by the police under the influence of drugs, and in Police Court was remanded for a week. He enlisted in Toronto in January last², having previously been employed as a cook in a York street restaurant.

Papers found on him tell of a lecture tour through Manitoba and the other western provinces, and down the Pacific coast to California, then east again through Minnesota and Wisconsin. Hambelton advertised himself as "Private Willard Hambleton, the Hero of Vimy Ridge." In the States Hambleton apparently passed as an American volunteer with the Canadian forces. At Seattle he took part at a great Liberty loan meeting, at which Governor Lister was a fellow speaker. He addressed the Engineers' club, and was the guest of honour at a luncheon given by the Rotary Club, of Seattle.

He stirred his audiences with his references to his own experience when he fought till his legs were shot up by machine guns. His posters also claimed for him, a five-inch bayonet scar and the ordeal of being blown up by a mine.

The following letter, written in reply to one request for a "lecture," indicates his method:

"It is absolutely impossible for me to speak more than once a week, as my nerves are in such poor condition that after each talk I must rest myself two or three days to keep the mental balance required for the next effort. When I talk I live over again the awful realities of war, and no mere money consideration can repay me for the awful agony which I have lived through. The only way I can secure the rest I need is to place a price on talk, and even that only makes lots of people more eager to hear my story, so I can only say $50 for a club or dinner talk and $100³ for a theatre or public address."

¹From Library and Archives Canada:

_{^{The 257th Battalion, predecessor of the 7th Battalion Canadian Railway Troops (CRT), was organized in December 1916 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel L.T. Martin. Its authorization was published in General Order 11 of 1 February 1917. The battalion mobilized at Saint John and recruited in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

The 257th Battalion embarked at Halifax 17 February 1917 aboard MISSANABIE, disembarking in England on 26 February 1917. Its strength was 29 officers and 902 other ranks. It was redesignated as the 7th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops on 8 March 1917. Its authorization was published in General Order 63 of 15 June 1917. The 7th Battalion CRT arrived in France on 28 March 1917. The battalion demobilized in Ottawa and was disbanded by General Order 196 of 1 November 1920.}}

²The Williard Hambelton attestation papers refer to a man signing up in Brantford in January 1917. However, it was not unusual for a newspaper report to include this type of error. If a man was from or worked in the Toronto area it was sometimes assumed that he signed up in Toronto by the reporter compiling the report. Many Torontonians signed up in Hamilton, at camps outside Toronto, or locations other than Toronto. This discrepancy, among others such as occupation, will be noted when comparing numerous newspaper reports to actual attestations. - M. I. Pirie
³Privates received $1.00 per day plus a 10 cent field allowance.

Transcribed by: M. I. Pirie