Source: Per post by Allan Miller at 18th Battalion Facebook Group.
Family Search: When Private William McKerracher was born on 10 October 1895, in Thamesville, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada, his father, John McKerracher, was 39 and his mother, Sarah Laurance Burgess, was 27. He had at least 5 sons and 1 daughter with Louisa Burchett. He lived in Thamesville, Kent, Ontario, Canada in 1916 and Camden, Camden, Kent, Ontario, Canada in 1931. He registered for military service in 1916. In 1931, at the age of 36, his occupation is listed as farm laborer in Camden, Kent, Ontario, Canada. He died on 25 April 1969, in Chatham, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 73, and was buried in Thamesville, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada.
This man enlisted with the 186th Battalion on November 15, 1916, at Chatham, Ontario. He was an unmarried farmer of 20 years age. His mother, Sarah, was listed as his next-of-kin.
After serving in Canada, he, with the rest of the 186th Battalion went overseas arriving on April 7, 1917, at Liverpool after leaving Halifax, NS on March 25, 1917.
He was transferred to the 4th Canadian Reserve Battalion on the day of arrival in England and was then transferred to the 18th Battalion and proceeded overseas to France on August 26, 1917.
Arriving “in the field” this soldier served with the 18th Battalion unl October 15, 1917, as he was sent for medical treatment for trench fever.
His medical treatment in France over, he was returned to the 18th Battalion on December 11, 1917.
He served until he took ill with trench fever on April 9, 1918, and was sent to England for treatment. He would recover but never return to active combat duty being returned to Canada effective May 7, 1919, and embarked for Canada aboard the SS Celtic from Liverpool that date.
He was discharged from the CEF on May 17, 1919, at London, Ontario.
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 