Tribute to Leslie Thomas Smith
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| • LES SMITH with his great grandson Patrick two years ago. |
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| • Proud to have served – a wartime picture of Sgt L T Smith. |
Leave your tributes or memories of Leslie Thomas Smith by emailing: sally.fairbrother@archant.co.uk
13-7-07
FOR 45 years Leslie Thomas Smith was standard bearer for Sidmouth Royal British Legion.
On Friday, July 13, the Legion paid tribute to the old soldier, who died on Sunday, aged 88, peacefully at home, his wife by his bedside.
A guard of honour formed outside the parish church before the 11.30am funeral, and a bugler from Dartmouth Naval College played Last Post and Reveille.
Born in Marylebone, Les moved to Devon as a baby. In 1932 he trained as a joiner.
He enlisted in the Royal Engineers aged 21, meeting Isabel while training in Ayrshire.
A familiar figure at the town’s Remembrance Day parades, Les, who returned to Sidmouth with his wife Isabel in 1946 after their wedding during a blizzard in Ochiltree, Scotland, proudly sported a chest full of medals when on parade.
Among them was the Military Medal, awarded to Sergeant L T Smith of 625 Field Squadron, Royal Engineers, for bravery under enemy fire in 1944, while commanding a ferry in support of an assault crossing at Gaiba in Italy.
He treasured a framed letter from King George VI regretting he could not personally present an award “so well earned”.
His sons, Chester and Fraser, were born in snow storms, in 1947 and 1951. Both agreed their father was “the most honest, generous, hard-working and helpful person you would ever wish to meet”.
After the war Les worked for Russell, then Pinney, contractors on a range of buildings, including many Sidmouth hotels.
In 1960 he was awarded the British Legion Gold Badge, in 1998 life membership of the RBL and in 2001 the Legion’s highest award, the RBL National Chairman’s Certificate.
A life member of Sidmouth Sailing Club, Les was actively involved in sailing from the early 1960s and became race officer in later years, masterminding the organisation of several national championships.
But it was his RBL ties with the town Les will be remembered for. An active Poppy Appeal collector with Isabel, he was County Standard Bearer for 25 years and County Standard Bearer Marshall for 22.
Dave O’Connor, who took over from Les as standard bearer, said: “He was hard to follow because he was such a well liked guy and always so smartly turned out. People admired him, he was tremendous.”
Les had four grandchildren and a great grandson. Cremation will take place after the service at the parish church.
TRIBUTES:
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• Gran and Granddad in Sidmouth, Dec 2006.
By Katherine Smith |
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• Gran and Granddad in Norway, 2001.
By Katherine Smith |
KATHERINE SMITH: I wish that I could have been there to celebrate Granddad’s life with all of my family and friends on Friday, but I am fortunate and happy that I was able to spend some quality time with him over Easter.
I have always loved to visit Gran and Granddad in Sidmouth and have many fond memories of my holidays there. Over the years I grew to appreciate Granddad’s strength of character, his many abilities and his cheeky sense of humour. I shared Granddad’s love of photography and would often visit with a laptop full of photos from my latest adventure for them to look through. Granddad said he would have loved to go travelling and see the world. When it came to travel and technology Granddad would always say he had been born 50 years too early.
One of my favourite memories is from when Gran and Granddad came to visit me while I was working in Oslo in 2001. Armed with a city map, public transport timetables, city passes and a great sense of adventure they toured the city, going to places where no Smith had ever gone before. When I arrived home from work they would have dinner ready and waiting, even after a busy day exploring. I took some leave to take them on a short back-packing tour around the south of Norway, taking in some of the most spectacular fjord scenery. It was action packed and wore them out but that didn’t stop them enjoying every minute. Granddad said that he wouldn’t have wanted to do it any other way.
A favourite, recent memory of Granddad is when Steve and I took Gran and Granddad to the Eden project in December and arranged them electric wheelchairs for the visit. Within minutes of setting off, Granddad was up to full speed, flying down the roads, hooting at people to get out of his way with a manic look in his eye. He played dodgems with Gran and snuck up behind her, hooting to make her jump when no-one official was looking. He attempted a bit of off-roading in pursuit of a good photograph, which Steve and I had to get him out of when he got stuck.
Granddad told me he would have loved to come to visit us in Cape Town. I am so sorry he didn’t make it as Steve and I would have loved to show him around. Perhaps after his ashes are cast to the sea, they may drift past Cape Town sometime and he might stop off for a visit anyway.
Good bye Granddad. I will really miss you. KATHERINE SMITH
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