Claude Huon SMITH

Claude Huon SMITH Update Details

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SMITH, Claude Huon

Service Number:	952
Enlisted:	12 May 1915
Last Rank:	Corporal
Last Unit:	26th Infantry Battalion
Born:	Huonville, Tasmania, Australia, 5 April 1893
Home Town:	Huonville, Huon Valley, Tasmania
Schooling:	Southbridge State School, Tasmania, Australia
Occupation:	Farmer
Died:	Killed in action, Belgium, 20 September 1917, aged 24 years
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials:	Huonville School Pictorial HR, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial

World War 1 Service

12 May 1915:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 952, 26th Infantry Battalion
29 Jun 1915:	Involvement Private, 952, 26th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: ''
29 Jun 1915:	Embarked Private, 952, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Brisbane
20 Sep 1917:	Involvement Corporal, 952, 26th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 952 awm_unit: 26th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-09-20

Help us honour Claude Huon Smith's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Son of William and Letitia SMITH, Bellerive, Tasmania.

Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

Claud Huon Smith was one of four sons and three daughters of William Ernest and Letitia Smith, of Huonville, Tasmania. All the boys enlisted and served overseas during WW1, two of them lost their lives, and one was decorated for bravery.

Claud, the eldest son, had previously tried to enlist in the Light Horse in Sydney but failed the riding test. He still enlisted early enough to serve on Gallipoli from 4 September 1915 with the 26th Battalion. He was evacuated sick a little over three weeks later and transferred to England. He rejoined his unit in Egypt during March 1916.

He was promoted to Corporal in late December 1916. He was then wounded in action, 26 March 1917 (gun shot wound, legs), and eventually transferred again to England. He rejoined his unit in August 1917 and was killed in action during the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge in Belgium, 20 September 1917.

His younger brother 4601 Pte Keith Lawrence Smith, 52nd Battalion AIF had died of wounds received at Pozieres on 17 August 1916, aged 20.

Another two brothers: 4584 Corporal Frank Ernest Smith and 4585 Pte Ivan Lance Smith MM, both returned to Australia during early 1919.

On the death of his father in 1927, William Ernest Smith, who had owned a large orchard in Huonville and lived in the area for most of his life before he died at 68, the local newspaper reported “He reared a family of four sons and three daughters. All four of the sons took part in the war, two of them being killed. The loss of his two sons and the anxiety for the safe return of the others greatly impaired Mr. Smith's health.”

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