| Regimental number | 952 |
| Place of birth | Huonville, Tasmania |
| School | Southbridge State School, Tasmania |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Occupation | Farmer |
| Address | Green Hill, Colebrook, Tasmania |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 22 |
| Height | 5' 4.75" |
| Weight | 133 lbs |
| Next of kin | Father, W.E. Smith, Green Hill, Colebrook, Tasmania |
| Previous military service | Nil (Previously tried to enlist in the Light Horse, Sydney: failed riding test.) |
| Enlistment date | |
| Place of enlistment | Richmond, Tasmania |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 26th Battalion, C Company |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/43/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A60 Aeneas on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Corporal |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 26th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Date of death | |
| Age at death | 24 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 24 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 109 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | NOTE DATE OF DEATH. Parents: William and Letitia SMITH, Bellerive, Tasmania. Native of Huonville, Tasmania |
| Family/military connections | Brothers: 4584 Corporal Frank Ernest SMITH, 4th Division Headquarters, returned to Australia, 3 May 1919; 4585 Pte Ivan Lance SMITH MM, 51st Bn, returned to Australia, 10 Aoril 1919; 4601 Pte Keith Lawrence SMITH, 52nd Bn, died of wounds, 17 August 1916.~ |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front Embarked Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 4 September 1915. Admitted to 7th Field Ambulance, 21 September 1915 (chronic diarrhoea); transferred to hospital, Malta, 27 September 1915; to England, 9 October 1915, and admitted to Southern General Hospital, Birmingham, 18 October 1915. Returned to Egypt, and disembarked Alexandria, 5 March 1916; rejoined unit, Moascar, 9 March 1916. Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British expeditionary Force, 15 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 21 March 1916. Found guilty, 7 April 1916, of being absent from Tattoo, Morbicque, 6 April 1916: awarded 20 days' Field Punishment No 2. Appointed Temporary Corporal, 22 November 1916. Admitted to 3rd Field Ambulance, 23 November 1916 (influenza); discharged to duty, 28 November 1916; rejoined unit, 29 November 1916. Appointed Corporal, 27 December 1916. Wounded in action, 26 March 1917 (gun shot wound, legs), and admitted to 5th Australian field Ambulance; transferred same day to 3rd Casualty Clearing Station; by Ambulance train, 29 March 1917, and admitted to 5th General Hospital, Rouen, 30 March 1917. transferred to England, 17 April 1917, and admitted to Royal Victorian Hospital, Netley, 17 April 1917; transferred to 3rd Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, 5 June 1917; discharged on furlough, 8 June 1917; marched in to No 1 Convalescent Depot, Perham Downs, 23 June 1917. Proceeded overseas to France, 8 August 1917; rejoined unit, 27 August 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 20 September 1917. Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
