William John Ward was born in Melbourne, Victoria, was single and a postman when he enlisted from Ballarat with the 57th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement on 4 February 1916 at the age of 31. His unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 4 April 1916. He proceeded overseas to France on 1 September 1916 and transferred to the 58th Battalion upon arrival. He spent a week in hospital due to illness, from 23 February to 2 March 1917. On 12 May 1917 he was wounded in action (shell shock), re-joining his unit a week later.

He was promoted to Sergeant on 20 October 1917 when the acting Sergeant fell ill to disease and was transferred to the 15th Training Battalion in England. He would later return to the 28th Battalion and would return to Australia from England on 19 June 1919, having suffered no further incident, illness or injury.
Tree No. 1055