“In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place and in the sky, the larks, still bravely singing, fly. Scarce heard amid the guns below.”

This famous poem by John McCrae reminds us of the significance of our Remembrance Day poppies and the soldiers who so bravely fought and died so we could have the freedoms that we have today.

I recently had the distinct honour of interviewing Master Warrant Officer William (Bill) Wilson. Bill joined the Canadian military in 1988 and after more that 20 years of service, he retired in 2009 from the regular forces. He continued with the reserves until 2019 as a physician assistant.

Presently, Bill works in Internal Medicine at Windsor Regional Hospital. His career and training started in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia before moving onto Camp Borden, Canadian Forces Hospital in Cold Lake Alberta, 2 Field Ambulance and 1 Canadian Field Hospital in Petawawa.

From there he went to 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry in Winnipeg, Manitoba and finally to Edmonton as a Senior Medic for a Combat Engineer Regiment.

His first deployment was in 1993 to Somalia with the Airborne Regiment as a Junior Medic.

In Rwanda (1994-95), Bill was part of the medical staff administering immunizations, supporting the Signals Regiment, UN Headquarters and Australian contingent.

In Bosnia (2000-2001), he was a Sergeant and Senior Medic in charge of five Junior Medics and caring for 125 people in one of five Canadian troops locations.

In 2002 , Bill served in Afghanistan for six months as a Senior Medic with two Junior Medics to support an Infantry company as part of a battle group assigned to kill or destroy the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.  Since they were the first Canadian battle group into Afghanistan after 9/11, the mission objectives were very clear.

Unfortunately, while there in a night fire exercise, the Americans dropped a 500-lb. bomb in a friendly fire incident that killed four Canadians and wounded eight more who were transferred back to base. Bill and his medical staff were on the scene to triage and evacuate the wounded as well as identify the dead.

President Bush later apologized for their grave error. Upon Bill’s return to Edmonton in July 2002, the residents hosted a parade and placed yellow ribbons to honour the returning soldiers.

From there it was on to Halifax after his Physicians Assistant course where Bill deployed circumnavigating Africa in 2007 on the ship HMCS Toronto.

In his career, Bill has seen a lot of death and gruesome war wounds that have made for bad dreams and many sleepless nights. Fortunately counselling offered through the Veterans Affairs for the past 12 years has helped him cope with the bad memories of war and PTSD.

He also has regular meetings with other vets and a supportive wife to keep him grounded. Fortunately, Bill did not sustain any personal injuries on the job.

(Courtesy of Historica Canada)

During the early days of the pandemic, Bill penned a guest column in a local paper that highlighted how his military training prepared him to treat COVID-19. That column can be read here:  How the military prepared me to treat COVID-19

Bill is on the Board of Directors for the Kingsville Military Museum and will be there on Saturday, Nov. 13 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. to answer any questions from the public. Don’t hesitate to drop by and meet him in person!

Photos provided by Bill Wilson