Hi All,
Sorry, this should go in the
off topics section but I figured it deserved a higher profile forum.
Canada says good-bye and thank you to it's last surviving VC recipient. The article is from the Vancouver Sun.
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/index.html
World War Two vet gets ceremonial farewell
Elianna Lev
Canadian Press
Saturday, August 13, 2005
VANCOUVER -- War hero Sgt. Ernest (Smokey) Smith has begun his final journey.
The flag-draped coffin of the Victoria Cross recipient made its way through Vancouver's downtown as hundreds lined the streets to pay their last respects.
Smith died 10 days ago at the age of 91.
The military procession is the largest that Canada has seen in 50 years -- covering about two kilometres through the downtown.
Smith won the Victoria Cross for single-handedly holding off German tanks and troops in a battle in Italy in October 1944 during the Second World War.
He was the last surviving Canadian to get the medal, the Commonwealth's highest award for bravery.
The procession from the Seaforth Highlanders Armoury across the Burrard Street Bridge to St. Andrew's Wesley United Church included a band, pallbearers and military personnel from across Canada.
Smith's last request was to be buried at sea and on Sunday his ashes will be committed to the sea during a private service aboard HMCS Ottawa.
His death set the stage for a period of mourning for a veteran unlike the country has seen since the death of First World War flying ace Billy Bishop in 1956.
Smith won the Victoria Cross for acts of bravery after Seaforth Highlanders were selected to establish a bridgehead across the Savio River in the push to liberate Cesena.
Torrential rain had caused the river to rise, making it impossible to get tanks across the muddy river banks. Without regard for his own safety, Smith valiantly fought back German tanks and troops to help secure the Canadian position.
Since the inception of the VC in 1856, 94 Canadians have received the award given for bravery or some daring act of valour or self-sacrifice.
Earlier this week, Smith's coffin lay in state on Parliament Hill, where Prime Minister Paul Martin and Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson were among the thousands who paid their respects.
Smith was born in New Westminster, B.C., on May 3, 1914, just weeks before the start of the First World War. He was a joyful man who savoured a good cigar and a well-aged scotch.
Described by his friends as the salt of the earth, Smith was also a natural-born diplomat whose status as a war hero meant he spent time in the company of royalty, presidents and prime ministers.
Last fall, Italians and Canadians gathered beneath the walls of an 800-year-old castle in Cesena to honour Smith, whose nickname came from his running ability in school, for the bravery he showed on the battlefield that saved untold lives and changed his own forever.
For Smith, that night was about survival.
"If you're not afraid, there's something wrong with you," he said. "You've got to do it. Don't worry about it.
"Do it."
After his death, the prime minister thanked Smith's family on behalf of "a grateful and indebted nation."
Smith's "conspicuous bravery, initiative and leadership in the face of enemy fire during World War II inspired fellow Canadians everywhere -- in action and on the home front," Martin said.
Comrades knew him as "a soldier's soldier," and independently minded man whose relationship with the army was stormy. He was made him a corporal nine times and busted him back to private nine times.
He held the rank of private when he was awarded the VC, making him the only Canadian private to win the medal in the Second World War.
Smith was promoted sergeant before he retired from the military. He became a newspaper photographer before starting his own travel business with wife Esther and worked until he was 82.
Late in life he was largely confined to a wheelchair, but he said last year he didn't dwell on what happened during the war.
"Once it's over, it's over," he said. "It was a good life."
© Canadian Press 2005
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