MINDEST OF A HARDFUCK:
The man is Ernest “Smokey” Smith. A Canadian soldier who received the Victoria Cross during WW2 for actions in Italy. In 1944, he single handedly took out a tank and killed a bunch of Germans in order to save one of his wounded soldiers. This is the interview he gave in 2005 to the magazine Macleans.
Q. Did you feel that your actions that day would earn you the Victoria Cross?
A. I just knew we were going into action. I didn’t know what it was. I was with my crew, guys that I could trust, and we took up our positions and stayed there, all night and all day, killing Germans and knocking off tanks. Fun and games. Every day had risk as far as I was concerned. People were shooting at you all the time. One day looks like another.
Q. What was going through your mind? Did you have the time to be scared?
A. Oh, shit, yeah. You go for a tank, you’ve got to win, ’cause if you don’t put it out of commission, the tank will eat ya. I hit part of the track and the motor, too. It was the only way of stopping them.
Q. That was the good news. The bad news were the German soldiers behind it.
A. That’s right. They came after me with hand grenades. I just kept shooting them.
Q. You could have surrendered, become a prisoner of war.
A. No bloody way. Wouldn’t even think of it. People who surrender, they’re cowards.
Q. What was it like to meet the king?
A. It was kind of astounding. I go to Buckingham Palace and I say to the guard, “What am I supposed to do?” He says, “You do exactly as I do: take a bow from the hips.” I said, “Oh Christ, you think I’m going to do that, you’re crazy.” I just saluted and that was it. I was given the VC and told to put it in my pocket. I wasn’t allowed to wear it for at least three days so the Canadian newspapers would have it the same time as the British ones. So for three days, I’m sitting in a bar in London drinking to beat hell. Someone came and said, “Okay, Smoky, you can put on that medal now.” So I took it out and put it on my chest, and I never bought another drink that day." #ww2 #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #canada