Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 177 Donald Smith was born in Inverness, Cape Breton in 1919 and served Canada as an Army medic throughout Europe during WWII. This is his story re-printed from an article in the Cape Breton Post, by Nancy King, November 2014. Working as a farmhand in Montreal, Donald Smith wasn’t expected by his employer to enlist in the army during the Second World War. Recognizing his value around the farm, his boss had arranged for the Inverness native, who was 21 in 1940, to remain in Canada and not enlist in the military. “They had it all arranged that I wouldn’t be in the army, they had horses and I was looking after the place,” he said. But Smith had other plans. On his day off, he paid a visit to a recruiter, which eventually led to his training as a medic under some of the best doctors in Montreal and tending to wounded soldiers at casualty clearing centers around Europe. He first went to France, where they worked in large tents. Many of the injuries they saw were grotesque. “It was just awful, France was the worst, I will never forget that,” Smith said. “You had patients come in; you had to wrap cloth around their hands to tie them to the bed. People were coming in – no arms, no legs, nothing. We didn’t keep them – as soon as the daylight came they were evacuated to a general hospital. I’m sure there’s not a day that I don’t see those people.” He also served in Holland and Belgium, sometimes working out of large homes. They worked near the front lines, and Smith said there were times when he didn’t know whether he would survive. Once when he was on leave for a few days, he visited a home in Scotland where a woman allowed soldiers to stay for free. There he met her niece Sarah, who ended up becoming his wife. “People don’t realize the people that gave their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy,” Smith said. “My God, all those young ones coming up, 18 years old, how healthy they were, and they were just murdered.” He said he often thought about the dying soldier’s mothers. “It’s just awful,” Smith said. In all, Smith spent nine years as an army medic. After coming back to Canada, Smith initially returned to Montreal. When he ventured out into downtown Montreal, he often came upon people whom he didn’t recall having previously met but they recognized him as the medic who had assisted them when they were wounded in battle. After some time in Toronto, Smith, his wife and their young son relocated to Cape Breton. He found work as a janitor at a small church and four-room school in New Victoria, and ultimately worked at a number of different schools, including St. Joseph’s in Sydney, until his retirement. Now 95, Smith still lives in his lovely home on a quiet street in Sydney, not far from where he used to work in maintenance at Constantine School. Smith is a lover of music, especially the fiddle, which his father and brothers played when he was growing up in Inverness County. This past summer, he spent a good deal of time travelling around the county taking in concerts in communities such as Margaree, Mabou, Inverness and Cheticamp. “Oh, I like the Scotch music,” he said. A Featured Veteran Story DONALD SMITH
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