According to his birth certificate, Kitchener was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on 13 August 1916, to his parents, Findlay Howard MacDonald and Jessie E. Sutherland.
Opponents of the idea that Kitchener was drafted assert that the Canadian government would not have had the power to conscript an American citizen (assuming he was not naturalized).
The exact date that Kitchener took up isolation in his home beside Gully Lake is uncertain, whether it be immediately after he jumped the train, or gradually into the 1950s; nor is it known why he chose to stay there.
Only a year before his death, Kitchener's makeshift hut, as well as all of the belongings it contained — including books, his various writings, a homemade guitar, and a .303 rifle — were destroyed in a forest fire.
A film of his life and final days, Willard: The Hermit of Gully Lake on YouTube, was produced and directed by Amy Goldberg and premiered in 2007.