Letter to the Editor
Halifax Chronicle Herald published
Clearing
up Smoky
Not to diminish in any way the rare achievement of Smoky Smith, but he was not "the only private ever to have been awarded the Victoria Cross," as stated in your editorial "Smoky's last stand" (Aug. 11). He was instead the only private soldier among the 16 VCs awarded to Canadians in the Second World War. Since it was instituted by Queen Victoria in 1856, the Victoria Cross has been awarded only 1,355 times to 1,351 men (three individuals earned it twice and it was also conferred upon the American Unknown Warrior). Of these, some 320, or almost one-quarter have been to privates (or equivalents), including 17 Canadians. Along with Smoky Smith, another 28 British and Commonwealth privates earned the VC during the Second World War. Included in these figures are the only Victoria Cross ever awarded in Canada, to Private Timothy O'Hea of the 1st Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, for his actions in preventing the explosion of an ammunition train in Quebec in 1866, and the last VC awarded, to Private Johnson Beharry, of the 1st Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, in April of this year for his bravery in May and June 2004 in Iraq. Beharry's Victoria Cross is the first awarded since the 1982 Falklands War, and the first to a living recipient since 1969. Smoky Smith's passing leaves a total of 13 living VC recipients worldwide.
John Boileau
Glen Margaret, NS
823-2922
Back to: