Walker, William Henry Clowes

William Henry Clowes Walker of Hingham, Massachusetts was born in 1883.  He enlisted in the American Field Service (AFS), a volunteer ambulance corps serving with the French Army in World War I, in December 1915.  From January to May 1916, he drove an ambulance with Section Sanitaire [Etats-] Unis (SSU) 2 at Pont-à-Mousson and elsewhere on the Verdun front in France.  He returned to Rampont in September 1916 and was wounded in October 1916, when shrapnel entered his thigh after he had just finished dropping off wounded men.  While recuperating, he worked at AFS headquarters, and then returned to SSU 2 in June 1917.  Walker enlisted in the Canadian Field Artillery August 1917 after the United States entered the war and AFS was absorbed by the U.S. Army, consequently ceasing to exist as an independent entity.  Walker was honorably discharged from the Canadian Forces in December 1917, due to a physical disability.  For his service in the war, he received the Croix de Guerre in the Order of Division (1916), the Verdun Medal (1937), and the AFS medal.

After returning to the United States, William H.C. Walker married Miss Helen F. Brewer, also of Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1920.  They had one daughter, Frances Walker (d. 1953), and one son, Willard B. Walker (1926-2009).  William H. C. Walker passed away at an unknown date.

[Bio courtesy of AFS Archives, New York]