SMOOTHY, Mark
| Service Number: | 2936 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Pioneer Battalion |
| Born: | Cobram, Victoria, Australia, 23 April 1893 |
| Home Town: | Cobram, Moira, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Barooga Public School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Blacksmith |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 13 June 1918, aged 25 years |
| Cemetery: |
Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Cobram Barooga RSL War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 2936, 2nd Pioneer Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 2936, 2nd Pioneer Battalion, HMAT Port Lincoln, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
2936 Private Mark Smoothy 2nd Australian Pioneers AIF, killed in action on the 13th June, 1918. Aged 26 when he died, Mark was born at Boosey, Victoria and was a student of the Barooga Public School. His parents lived at Barooga and then Oaklands NSW after the war.
A blacksmith in civilian life, Mark was a very good athlete and won numerous foot races around the district and played football with Boomanoomana which fielded a very competitive football team in the GV Association prior to the war.
Mark Smoothy arrived in England during January 1917 and was sent to France on the 12th June 1917. He was on the Western Front for 12 months and was digging trenches near the front line he was killed by shell fire on the 13th June 1918.
The Cobram Courier reported, “The unwelcome news, arrived, in Cobram of the death in action in France of Private Mark Smoothy, a son of Mr and Mrs Martin Smoothy, of Barooga. No particulars are to hand of the date or place of death of this gallant soldier, but as he was widely known as an industrious, persevering, and nice-spoken young man his and his end on the battlefield is much regretted. We are informed that Mark enlisted from Berrigan in 1915, and had been about two-and-a-half years on active service. He was a fine type of young man keen, energetic, well-behaved, and just the sort, that Australia can ill-afford to- lose, and his respected father, mother, and kin folk are deeply sympathised with their sad bereavement.”
Mark is buried in the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery in Picardie, France.
His mother Bridget wrote to the authorities, “I want you to inscribe these words on his headstone; I don’t suppose I will ever get to see it, but I hope my rising generation will. May Lord have mercy on his soul, RIP.”
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