William Alexander McDill was a soldier, school teacher, author and editor. He was born in 1913 in Winnipeg MB, and raised and educated there attending the University of Manitoba and the Manitoba Provincial Normal School. He worked as a schoolmaster in the Technical Branch of the Winnipeg Public School System from 1933 until 1939, receiving a BEd from Colorado A&M College in 1938. He married Dorothy Sarah Wilkinson, a schoolteacher, in 1939.
In 1939, McDill was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Engineers. He arrived in England in July 1941 and joined the 2nd Canadian Road Construction Company in August. He was promoted Captain in February 1941 to become Adjutant of the Canadian Engineer Reinforcement Unit (CERU). He subsequently served and Adjutant of 6 Canadian Construction Company and of the 1st Battalion, RCE. In June 1943, he was posted to HQ 1st Canadian Army Corps Troops Engineers. In November of that year, Captain McDill was posted to the 29th Field Company as second in command.
In July 1944, his unit was sent to France. They were initially involved in typical route construction and repair, but in those early days took a lead in booby trap clearance of abandoned German position and buildings. Major McDill commanded the unit until February 1945, notably through the Battle of the Scheldt, the advance through and out of the Nijmegen Salient. and the crossing of the Rhine. Major McDill returned to Canada in April 1945 and was posted to the newly formed Royal Canadian School of Military Engineering (RCSME) in Camp Chilliwack, BC.
Major McDill was demobilized in September 1945 and as Adjutant of the Canadian Officers Training Corps at the University of British Columbia, studied to earn a B.A. in 1947 and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 1948. He went on to receive an M. Ed from Colorado A&M College.
Captain McDill re-enlisted in August 1948 an took charge of Advance Trades Training at the Royal Canadian School of Military Engineering (RCSME). He was soon promoted to major as Officer Commanding Trades Training Wing. In 1951, he returned to England to attend the Royal College of Military Science at Shrivenham. On completion of his studies, he was posted to London as Liaison Officer, Engineers. He returned to Canada in 1953 and served in various appointments in NDHQ including some time with the Directorate of History. With Colonel A.J. Kerry, McDill co-wrote The History of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers, a two-volume work published in 1962 and 1966.
Major McDill retired from the Army in 1965 and became the Assistant General Secretary at the Engineering Institute of Canada where he served as manager of technical services before retiring in 1975. McDill died on 26 Jul 1989 and is buried in the Capital Memorial Gardens in Ottawa.