He was the author of a memoir entitled "A brief outline of the Travels and Adventures of William Green (late Rifle Brigade) during a period of ten years in the British Service" (1857), one of the few accounts by an enlisted man of life in the army of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.
Having completed his training as a Rifleman, Green left England on 5 November 1805, as part of a contingent of 20,000 British troops sent to northern Germany under the command of General Donn.
The regiment sailed from Spithead on 24 May 1808 and after suffering severe weather landed at Vimeiro on 28 August, missing the battle by seven days.
After the conclusion of the armistice Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore led his forces into Spain where they were quartered in villages around Salamanca.
However the prompt entry of Napoleon into Madrid, at the head of large army, led to the retreat to Coruña, a distance of 250 miles over mountainous country in the depths of winter.
Though most of his troops were successfully evacuated by the Royal Navy, General Moore was mortally wounded during the battle of Coruña on 16 January 1809.
After a brief respite at Hythe Barracks, on 24 May 1809 the Rifles, with a new intake from the militia, sailed from Dover to Lisbon, where General Arthur Wellesley was now in command.
Even so, hearing the Bugle-Major sound the advance and the double-quick, Green lay on his back and repeated the signal – the last time he blew a bugle.
There at Haslar Hospital, he was treated by Dr. James Moore (the brother of the General) who removed twenty-nine bone splinters from his arm (though he carried part of the musket ball there for the rest of his life).
In 1849 Green was awarded the Military General Service Medal with four clasps representing Coruña, Busaco, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz.
When the Duke of Wellington died in September 1852, Colonel Shirley, formerly of the 7th Hussars, who lived at Lutterworth, paid Green's expenses to travel to London to attend the funeral.
He and Alice Pebody, a widow, were married at the Baptist Church, Rugby, and settled in her cottage in South Kilworth, where he wrote his memoir.
Then, to the strains of the Drum and Fife Band of the Grenadiers, they marched to the Corn Exchange for a feast of venison, game, and plum pudding.
Mr. Crofts of Cosby, the oldest naval veteran, aged 80, and William Green, now 93, were carried shoulder high to respond to the toast for their respective branches of the service.