William Lord joined the Australian Flying Corps as an Air Mechanic (no. 23) on the 30th of March 1915, transferring from the 66th infantry. His father also William, was the caretaker of the Central Flying School at Werribee, were he lived with his family, influenced his son to join the AFC.

After his basic training, which was less than a month, he and twelve other mechanics were to join the Australian Half Flight in Mesopotamia, departing Melbourne on the P&O Liner Morea, on the 20th of April 1915. The voyage being uneventful, the Morea arrived in Basarah on the 26th of May 1915.

From there William was to join the 6th Division at Kut el Amara, there he worked on Maurice Farmans until the Turks besieged Kut. It was then that the Air Mechanics of the Half Flight proved their worth, under the command of Captain Winfield Smith, a British pilot, they erected mills for grinding wheat and barley, the grain being dropped to the garrison by the planes of the Half Flight, in all, nearly 5 tonnes of food and medical supplies were dropped at Kut, a magnificent achievement considering the machines being flown at the time.

However this was not enough to save Kut, and the garrison finally capitulated, 13,000 prisoners were marched 700 miles to Anatolia. Only 6 Air Mechanics survived the march, one being Lord, they where then put to work on the railway through the Tarsus Mountains. Conditions where harsh and the men treated poorly, food was in short supply, as were medical facilities, these took there toll on Lord and he was admitted to hospital for dysentery. Lord finally passed away on the 13 of July 1916. His wife Annie had to wait almost a year until his death was finally confirmed in a letter written by Captain T.H. White, also a prisoner of the Turk.

Of the 13,000 POW's captured at Kut only 2,000 were to survive the horrendous conditions imposed by the Turks, of the 13 Air Mechanics sent to Kut only 2 were to survive. The pilots of the AFC will always be remembered for their daring feats in the air, but men like William Lord and the 13,000 taken prisoner should be also remembered for the heroic achievements in the defence of Kut.