BACK IN THE ARMY
LAST WAR'S YOUNGEST V.C. (From The Guardian's London Correspondent) LONDON, October 14. Lance-Sergeant Edward Be'nn Smith V.C, D.C.M, has rejoined the Army after eleven months of civilian life and this week was granted a commission as lieutenant. He was the youngest V.C. in the British Army, winning the medal at the age of 19. He won the D.C.M. on a daylight patrol in 1917, when, single-handed lie scattered a party of forty Germans in no-man's-land. Soon afterwards he won the V.C. "for most conspicuous bravery, leadership and personal example during an attack and in subsequent operations." Alone he charged and captured a machine-gun nest, killing six of the enemy. Then he led his men to help another platoon, in difficulties, took command, and captured the objective. At the end of the 1914-18 war the Army offered Sergeant Smith a commission, but he refused, and served as an N.C.O. until last November.
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Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LX, Issue 91, 17 November 1939, Page 2
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155BACK IN THE ARMY Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LX, Issue 91, 17 November 1939, Page 2
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