Private William Vast was born in Hampshire, England on May 13th, 1895 to Edith and Albert Alexander Vast. Edith was named as William’s next of kin, and still resided in Hampshire. Before the war, William lived and worked as a labourer in Churchville on the Wilson farm; Butler Wilson was designated as someone to be notified with any important information about his status while at war. In January, 1916 at the age of 20 he registered to go overseas with the 126th Battalion. Vast was stationed in France, and on April 9th, 1917 he was wounded by an exploding shrapnel shell at Vimy Ridge. He was admitted to hospital with serious injuries to the right thigh and foot and was not discharged until October 19th, more than six months later. When William was discharged from the hospital, the doctor filling out his forms wrote that he still could not move his big toe on the right foot, and his foot would swell up whenever he walked. During his time in hospital, Private Vast was given morphine to help with the  pain, but still complained of ‘severe pain’ in his foot. He had an operation under anesthesia on his foot and thigh the day after he arrived to remove shrapnel from the wounds, but it wasn’t for another 16 days that he was able to sit in a wheelchair for the first time. Nine days after that he was finally able to use crutches. His diet in hospital at the start of his stay consisted of lemonade, water, tea, pudding, and bread. 

             On his discharge from the army, William had a dental screening, and was given a form entitling him to ‘porcelains’ at no cost, paid for by ‘the public’. He was discharged from the army in early 1918 as ‘physically unfit for service’, and arrived back in Canada on March 15th, 1918, the remainder of his pay to be forwarded to Mr. Butler Wilson of Churchville. In April of 1918, Vast was examined by a Dr. McKay in Brampton who commented that he ‘walks with a cane, walks with a limp, has pain in foot, can only walk up to two miles, dull aching pain in legs after standing for ten minutes, no feeling in great toe, second toe overrides great toe due to pressure from wearing tight boots’. Dr. McKay did state that Vast should be able to resume his farm labourer job though (source: Library & Archives Canada). 

               William went on to marry Grace A. Adams, and passed away in 1977 aged 81 or 82. He and his wife are buried in Brampton Cemetery. Below is a photo of Private Vast taken from a group photo of 126th Battalion.