9th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (British Army)
Died:
21/03/1918 (Killed in Action)
Age:
22
Summary
William Johnston was the son of John and Margaret Johnston. The 1901 census lists Willie as age 3 living with his mother and the Stewart family (his grandparents) at house 23 in Aughagaskin, Magherafelt. William Johnston enlisted in Londonderry, where he was living. Private William Johnston was a signaller. On the back of his will, in his pay book, was the alphabet in Morse code. Private William Johnston was serving with D Company of the 9th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he was killed in action in France on 21st March 1918. The CWGC also record that is father also died in the war, although no other details are available.
Pozieres is a village 6 kilometres north-east of the town of Albert. The Memorial encloses Pozieres British Cemetery which is a little south-west of the village on the north side of the main road, D929, from Albert to Pozieres. On the road frontage is an open arcade terminated by small buildings and broken in the middle by the entrance and gates. Along the sides and the back, stone tablets are fixed in the stone rubble walls bearing the names of the dead grouped under their Regiments. It should be added that, although the memorial stands in a cemetery of largely Australian graves, it does not bear any Australian names. The Australian soldiers who fell in France and whose graves are not known are commemorated on the National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
