Born 9/08/1904 at Chatham, ON. he resided there all of his life less the time in the Army. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Smith; he had a sister Mrs. Milton Suter. He enlisted with the 1^st Kent when they mobilized in 1939. Transferred to the Prince of Wales Own Regt. PWOR (family) and transferred again to the Stormont, Dudes and Glengarry Regt. (Glens) to go overseas in December of 1943.

Oliver was reported wounded in action Sunday, 9 July, 1944 with the “Glens” in the Battle for Caen, France. In a letter to his sister Sgt. Smith writes from an English nursing home right the following to his sister:

“Jerry mortared us all the way and once or twice I was too close to where they hit. A piece or stone or dirt must have struck me as I saw stars when I was hit. The wound bleed badly and it looked worse than it really was, but we kept going until we had reached our objective. I was surprised and happy to be evacuated to England. Better chance for the nerves to rest up a bit.”

Accompanying the letter was a Canadian Army Casualty post card with a message printed my Sgt. Smith: “I have been admitted to hospital and am doing well. Wounded and hope to be discharged soon.”  CDN25/09/44

Arrived aboard the S.S. Mauritania from overseas docked at Halifax NS. 1 January, 1946.

Oliver ‘Ollie’ Smith died at the age of 77 in September of 1981 and was interned at Maple Leaf Cemetery, Chatham.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sources

CFF-FD44, PSUC-RH, IODE(P), CDN 18/07/44, CDN-Obit 18/09/81, J. O. Smith (son)

Age	born 1905
Birthplace	Chatham, Ont.
Religion	United Church
When Enlisted	July 27th 1940
Next of Kin	Mrs. Milton Suter (Sister)

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