Cpl. Aubrey James Smith

Service Number F76042

"D" Company

Cape Breton Highlanders

Killed in Action January 17, 1944

Aubrey James Smith was born in Lunenburg, NS, on March 6, 1918, one of four sons of Captain Joseph Nathaniel and Emily Mary (Gaetz) Smith. There were no daughters. Aubrey grew up in Lunenburg and attended the Lunenburg Academy. The family was very much involved in the fishing industry. Aubrey’s father, Capt. Smith, a descendent of the Smith family that founded the waterfront firm of W.C. Smith and Company in Lunenburg, spent much of his life as a skipper of a schooner in the Lunenburg fleet. Aubrey’s brother Ronald became managing director of the Lunenburg Sea Products Ltd. and his brother Lawrence was assistant manager of the Lockeport branch of the same company. The fourth brother, Arthur, died in 1928.

After completing Grade 10, Aubrey attended the Maritime Business College and took accounting and typing. He then moved to North Sydney and, following in the family tradition, began a business career in the fishing industry. He became assistant manager of Leonard Brothers, a branch of the Lunenburg Sea Products Ltd.

On November 13, 1942, in Halifax, Aubrey enlisted as a private in the Canadian Army. He completed his basic training in Yarmouth, NS, and on January 26, 1943, was transferred to Elkins Barracks, a training centre for anti-aircraft and coastal artillery in Eastern Passage, NS, near Dartmouth. Aubrey took anti-aircraft training and his rank changed from private to gunner. His stay lasted three months, and at the end of April, as an acting sergeant, he was moved to a transit camp in Windsor, NS. On June 10, 1943, Aubrey embarked for England and landed there on the 18^th. He was then transferred to an infantry reinforcement unit, where his rank reverted back to private. Finally, on August 6, 1943, Aubrey was transferred to the Cape Breton Highlanders who were training in England at the time. In September, a month before he sailed to Italy with his new battalion, Aubrey was promoted to acting lance corporal and on January 5, 1944, was promoted to acting corporal.

On January 17, 1944, the Cape Breton Highlanders took part in a larger Canadian attack to capture high ground east of the Arielli River near Ortona, on the Adriatic Sector of the Italian Front. It was the battalion’s first major action and it was carried out in daylight against veteran German paratroopers entrenched in well prepared defensive positions. To add to their difficulties, their sister battalion in the brigade, the Perth Regiment, had failed to take their objective on the left in an early morning attack, allowing the Germans to direct their full attention on the Cape Breton Highlanders’ attack.

Aubrey Smith was in “D” Company which led the assault across the valley of a stream called the Riccio, with their objective being a piece of high ground near two roads on the far side of the Riccio. “C” Company followed ten minutes later. Although one platoon managed to make it across the stream, many “D” Company men were pinned down in the water due to the intense machine gun and mortar fire. Promised smoke protection was ineffective.

George Hall, who was a sergeant in “D” Company and was present at the time, recalled in a 1992 interview that he and Aubrey Smith had been crouching against the bank of the stream in water up to their shoulders. Pte. Ross Chaisson and another man, Pte. Benjamine Hedd, were nearby. George Hall was summoned by Sergeant-Major O’Grady, so he moved down the stream away from his comrades. A short time later a mortar shell landed amid the group of men he just left, killing Aubrey Smith, Pte. Chaisson and Pte. Hedd. George Hall believed that there may have been others killed by the same blast and there were many wounded.

Unable to advance any further under the intense machine gun and mortar fire, and with mounting casualties, the survivors were ordered to pull back to their original positions after dark. Unfortunately many of the dead had to be left where they had fallen and were not recovered until later. Aubrey Smith’s parents were originally notified that he was missing and only found out later that he had been killed.

Thirteen Cape Breton Highlanders were killed in this action with many more wounded. To the survivors the battlefield forever became known as “The Valley of Death”.

Aubrey Smith was laid to rest in Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, near Ortona, Italy. He was 25 years old.

References:

• Library Archives Canada website for Second World War Service Files - War Dead 1939-1947. To access the page pertaining to Aubrey James Smith, click HERE.
• Canadian Virtual War Memorial website. To accesss the page pertaining to Aubrey James Smith, click HERE.
• Find a Grave website for Moro River Canadian War Cemetery. To accesss the page pertaining to Aubrey James Smith, click HERE.
• War Diary - Cape Breton Highlanders.
• Morrison, Alex and Slaney, Ted. The Breed of Manly Men – The History of the Cape Breton Highlanders. Sydney: City Printers Limited, 2002.
• Family information provided by Ronald Smith (Aubrey Smith's brother) in 1992.

The Collection:

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