Commanding Officer 208th Battalion CEF
2IC 15th Battalion, 48th Highlanders
LtCol Willard Park ‘Pussy’ Malone was born in Owen Sound, Ontario on 3 March1883. He was an accountant and an officer in the 31st Grey Regiment of the Canadian Militia when he attested ias a Lieutenant nto the 15th Battalion in September 1914 at Valcartier, Quebec, He he was reputedly the first man to enlist from his district. and had been part of the group of volunteers from the Grey Regiment that helped to bring the 15 th Battalion up to war establishment strength.
He served at 2 nd Ypres, Festubert and was Mentioned in Dispatched for leadership at Observatory Ridge (mount Sorrel) in June 1916. In July 1916 he was promoted Major and served as the battalion’s DCO. He commanded the battalion several times in 1916 and 1917 during absences by LtCol Bent.
On 5 June 1916, the Toronto press reported Captain Willard Park Malone of the 15th Battalion killed in action. Several days after his reported death at the battle of Mont Sorrel, his wife received a cable from Malone stating he was “quite well.”
In 1917 he was detached to the UK to attend Senior Officer training and he did not return to the battalion until 1919 when it was repatriated to Canada. From 1917 to Armistice in 1918, he served in variety of positions including General Staff Officer 2 at HQ 3rd Can Div and was promoted to LtCol in command of the 208 th Battalion. He relinquished command and rank when that battalion was demobilized and he was attached to further staff positions including at HQ Canadian Troops ,1 CORD, HQ Witley, 53rd Canadian Corps School and the Infantry School.
In March 1917, he was recalled to England to take a senior officers’ course at Aldershot. Shortly after the arrival of the 208th Battalion in May 1917, Malone replaced the original commanding officer, Thomas Lennox, a Toronto MPP.
The 208th was formally disbanded in January 1918 and Malone remained on staff of Bramshott Camp. He returned to Toronto with the 15th Battalion in May 1919. The Toronto Globe declared, “Although he had many narrow escapes he came through the war without a wound.”
He was struck off the strength on May 11, 1919 by reason of general demobilization in Toronto, Ontario. He re-enlisted on Jun 1, 1920 in P.P.C.L.I.
Obituary in The Daily Sun-Times (Owen Sound, ON), 24 Jul 1922, p1.
While not physically wounded, his experiences in the trenches took a heavy toll on Malone’s health. He suffered a nervous breakdown and never recovered. He died in a London, Ontario hospital on 22 July 1922 – age 39.
Willard is remembered on a family marker at Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound, Ontario but he is buried at St. James Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario.
His son was Brigadier General Richard Sankey Malone, OBE, ED who served with the QOR.
