33 Dundas Street W

Private William James Pamplin

William Pamplin was born in 1922 in Paris and grew up at 33 Dundas Street (which is no longer standing) with his parents, Percy Pamplin of England and May Elizabeth McBride of Northern Ireland, and his younger brother, Lawrence. He married Ella Edith “Helen” Wraight before enlisting in 1942. He joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps and served as a Private.

He saw action in France, Holland and Germany over three years. Tragically, he never made it home. He was taken ill aboard a ship returning to Canada with wounded soldiers. He underwent a serious operation in a Halifax hospital and there was hope for a recovery when he was transferred to Crumlin Hospital in London, but he died there on March 6, 1946. The plan for his reunion was replace with a funeral, with full military honours, at St. James Anglican Church in Paris. More than 125 veterans from both world wars attended.

His name appears on the Brant County Honour Roll and also on the side of the Paris World War Two Cenotaph.

(Some of this information is taken from the Canadian Virtual War Memorial created by Veterans Affairs Canada.)