Private George Preston Smith

Private George Preston Smith was the Son of Mabel and William Smith. He was born on September 3^rd in 1923 in Kinkora, Prince Edward Island. Preston had ten siblings – eight brothers and two sisters – and he was the third eldest. His two older brothers, Louis and Gerald, both fought in the army, and both survived. In April of 1943, Preston enlisted in the Canadian Infantry at the age of 19 and was sent overseas later that month. He became a member of the 3^rd Canadian Infantry Division and The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment. Preston was the personal runner, or ‘batman’, for his commanding Major, Otty Corbett.  This job was considered extremely dangerous, and it was common that many ‘batmen’ would not survive as long as other soldiers.

Preston served a total of 592 days of active service in the Infantry, and participated in many important battles, including such battles as Juno Beach, D-Day, Normandy, the Battle of Scheldt, Caen, Falaise, and more. Preston survived many battles that killed so many others, but he sadly did not survive the war. George Preston Smith was killed in a freak accident on November 12, 1944. His family was notified 12 days later. He was barely twenty-one years old. Preston’s regiment was travelling from Ghent to Nijmegen, and Preston was riding in the back. When they stopped to let everyone stretch their legs, Preston made to jump down from the back of the truck, but the cocking piece of his gun was caught in a rope on the back of the truck. Preston tried to pull his gun free, but it discharged and penetrated his chest. In a letter to Preston’s mother, Major Corbett said “He fell at my feet, but by the time I got him turned over to find the wound, he was too far gone to even recognize me.”

Preston was buried in a small Christian cemetery in a town by the name of Malden, just south of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. After the war was over, and the Grooesbeek Canadian War Cemetery was created, Preston’s body was transferred to his final resting place, plot VI-D-XI.

After Preston’s death, Otty Corbet kept up communication with his mother, often telling her about what a wonderful person Preston was, and how everyone in the coy.  missed him dearly. He would tell her stories about Preston and himself, including the first time they dug a trench together. He also told her that he behaved just like his mother would have wanted him to: he didn’t drink and he never paid any attention to the girls over there. Some of his letters are more humorous and celebrate what a wonderful person Preston was in life, while others are more emotional, like the letter where Otty describes what it was like to watch Preston die in his arms.

This is a Picture of a small metal cross that Preston’s mother had given to him before he went overseas back in 1943:

 He carried it with him wherever he went, and it even got a little bent out of shape in the process. After Preston’s death, there was a strong effort made by the soldiers in his regiment to somehow get this cross back to his mother, and that it did.

Preston’s siblings, on their 1969 family reunion – 25 years after Preston had died – decided to have this picture made:

This is a picture of all Preston’s siblings at their 1969 family reunion. They decided that the picture would never be complete without Preston in it, so they had him photo shopped in. He is standing with them again, on the far left. By the time this had been taken, both of Preston’s parents had died.