William Arthur Millward was a state schoolteacher at the North School in Toowoomba, where he coached the school’s soccer team in the years leading up to his enlistment. He was also a member of the local Football and Referee’s Associations, as well as serving in the pre-war 11th Infantry. Millward enlisted in August 1914 and was assigned to the 9th Battalion but was declared medically unfit in April 1915 after receiving a fracture to the base of his skull. There is no indication in his record whether the injury occurred in combat, nor when it happened, other than that he boarded the Ulysses the same month to return to Australia.
Back in Toowoomba, he was promoted to Lieutenant and became the local recruiting officer until mid-1917 when he resigned to take up a position at Clayfield College in Brisbane. Millward became the college’s soccer coach, as well as coaching the Queensland schoolboys’ soccer team against Toowoomba in 1917 and 1918.
His name was added to the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board in 1918. In 1924, Millward was living in Warwick when a fire destroyed his house, leading him to later approach the AIF to purchase replacement medals.