William Davitt received his early education in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and graduated from the Chicopee High School with the class of 1903. He then attended Holy Cross College where he was a star tackle on the varsity football team for three years until 1907. He spent a year in Akron, Ohio, and then entered the Grand Seminary at Montreal, Canada, and upon graduation was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1911. His first appointment was to Saint John’s Church in Worcester, and he served four years as chaplain of the State Industrial School and the Lyman School for Boys in Westboro. In 1916 he was assistant pastor of Saint Ann’s Church until 1917 when he became a Knights of Columbus chaplain. After several months at Camp McArthur in Waco, Texas, he was commissioned a first lieutenant and an Army Chaplain, shipping overseas in February 1918. He was the last American Officer killed in action before the Armistice on November 11, 1918, when he was killed by a shell explosion just 1 hour and fifteen minutes before the cessation of hostilities. At the time of his death, his brother was serving with the Aviation Corps only five miles from the place where Davitt was killed.