Private William Burns was the eldest son of the late Mr. W. Burns, for many
years Officer-in-Charge of the Coast Guards at Bangor, and of Mrs. Burns, Garth
Road, Bangor. He served his apprenticeship as a teacher in Garth Board School,
and then decided to go in for the Civil Service. He passed into the Customs, and
was appointed to Carnarvon, and then to Bangor. His duties brought him into
close contact with the local seafaring men, by whom he was held in high esteem.
He then took up a Customs appointment on the West Coast of Africa, and
eventually emigrated to Australia. Although long past military age, he
volunteered for active service, and joined the Australian Imperial Force. In an
attack upon the Germans, in which his unit suffered heavily, he was severely
gassed, and died in Hospital at Rouen, about four days afterwards, on the 22nd
of May, 1918.