Ernest Alvia "Smokey" Smith will forever have his place in Canadian history books, but the New Westminster-born Victoria Cross recipient now has a permanent home in the New Westminster Museum and Archives.
Smith, who was born in New Westminster in May 1914, received the Victoria Cross for his actions in the Second World War. King George VI awarded Smith the Victoria Cross in ceremony in Buckingham Palace.
"It is the ultimate honour for bravery in Canada," said Colin Stevens, who recently retired as manager of the New Westminster Museum and Archives.
A private during the Second World War, Smith single-handedly defeated an armoured German attack on the Savio River bridgehead in Italy. During his defence of the position, he also saved the life of a wounded comrade.
New Westminster Mayor Wayne Wright recently spoke with Smith's daughter Norma-Jean Butts about acquiring some of her father's possessions and assured her that the city would be pleased if she wanted to donate any of her father's belongings to the city. She offered the city a scroll that he'd received when given the Freedom of the City in New Westminster in 1958.
"It seemed like the appropriate place to go back to," she told The Record. "I can't keep everything."
During discussions with city officials, Butts mentioned she still had three military uniforms belonging to her father.
"She didn't know where they should go," Stevens said. "I used my background knowledge to help."
In addition to the scroll, the New Westminster Museum and Archives recently acquired one of those military uniforms.
"We know he wore that uniform in the city," Stevens said. "He got the Freedom of the City in the city. We have his scroll -now we have the uniform from the day he received his scroll."
Wright said the City of New Westminster has the original scroll that was given to Smith in 1958 but had copies made for his family. He said Smith's uniform will be a special piece in the city's museum collection and will be seen by many museum visitors in the years to come.
"It will be one of those things that will be considered a very important thing for the city," he said. "It will be one of the special things we have."
Butts is pleased that her father's belongings are appreciated by the City of New Westminster.
"It's great. I am glad they want it," she said. "Their new museum is coming."
Stevens, who served in the Reserves and attained the rank of Captain, had met Smith as they were both Seaforth Highlanders. Stevens had started the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Museum in 1972 and spent 15 years as its voluntary curator and archivist.
With his military and museum knowledge, Stevens offered to help Smith's daughter decide where the uniforms would be most appropriately donated.
He suggested the New Westminster Museum and Archives would be an appropriate place for the uniform that Smith wore the day that he received Freedom of the City, and suggested the other two uniforms go to the Seaforth Highlanders and the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada in Montreal.
"They are his uniforms, direct from his family," Stevens said. "They have the Victoria Cross ribbon on them."
According to Stevens, Smith is one of five people who were born or lived in New Westminster who have received the Victoria Cross. It's the most prestigious award of valour given out to British and Commonwealth forces.
"He grew up there. It was a big part of his life," Butts said about New Westminster. "It was a special place for him. He never really moved very far away."
When Smith died in Vancouver in 2005 at the age of 91, he was Canada's last-surviving Victoria Cross winner. A state funeral was held in his honour.
