William Sterling Lamb, a stretcher bearer and school principal. (Anne Sterling.)
William Edmund Sterling (right) and William Sterling Lamb (left) pose with two women for a photo postcard during Christmas in1916. (Anne Sterling.)
William Edmund Sterling recuperated at Woodcote Park during the war. (Anne Sterling.)
William Sterling Lamb’s grave among others at Dury Mill British Cemetery in Pas de Calais, France. (Anne Sterling.)
William Sterling Lamb’s grave at Dury Mill British Cemetery in Pas de Calais, France. (Anne Sterling.)

William Sterling Lamb

It was the last one hundred days of war and stretcher-bearer William Sterling Lamb was laying dead under an overcoat

It was the last one hundred days of war and stretcher-bearer William Sterling Lamb was laying dead under an overcoat on the first day of the Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line. His best friend was staggering around in a complete state of shock. “All this time (Lamb’s friend) was completely uncontrolled, sobbing and crying,” wrote Grace, Lamb’s sister, in a letter dated December 1968.

Lamb had enlisted a year earlier while working as a principal at Victoria School, an elementary school in Quebec City. He studied teaching at MacDonald College in 1911 and quickly became known in educational circles.

Lamb was born on August 5, 1894 in Valleyfield, Quebec and died on September 2, 1918.

Lamb's cousin, William Edmund Sterling enlisted on January 8, 1916 and was gassed three times while serving overseas, which his family believes shortened his life. Born on May 19, 1894, in Deseronto, Ontario, he died in 1941.

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Great War? Submit their story and it could be included on this Great War Album website.



Tags

Army (327), soldier (298), volunteered (285), Ontario (191), died (126), killed (112), Quebec (60), friend (16), stretcherbearer (13), Hundred Days Offensive (5)
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