SMITH, Harold Walter
| Service Number: | 3622 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 11 October 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Merrylands, New South Wales, Australia, 1897 |
| Home Town: | Merrylands, Holroyd, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Merrylands Superior Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Coachpainter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Pozieres, France, 20 July 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 11 Oct 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3622, 19th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Dec 1915: | Involvement Private, 3622, 19th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: '' | |
| 12 Dec 1915: | Embarked Private, 3622, 19th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Berrima, Sydney | |
| 20 Jul 1916: | Involvement Private, 3622, 2nd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3622 awm_unit: 2 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-07-20 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Harold Walter Smith was only nineteen years when he died. He was born at Merrylands, went to school at Merrylands Public School, and sang in the Methodist Church choir. He was apprenticed to a Granville coach builder. He had enlisted just nine months before he was killed in action at the very beginning of the great Battle for Pozieres. His parents, Alexander Malcolm and Sarah Ann Smith, had another son in the AIF, 5768 William Alfred Smith, 13th Battalion AIF, who died of his wounds in August 1918.
Harold wrote his last letter home dated 13th June 1916, a month before he died. Printed in the local newspaper, it describes a successful trench raid on the Germans, his views on Australian artillery and indicated that he was revelling in life on the battlefield with no expectation of being killed: “I am in my glory now; it has become lively, real war – no play. Well, my dear mother and father, you must not worry at all. I will be all right, never fear.”
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