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 swarm of Germans in order to save one of his wounded soldiers. This is the interview he gave in 2005 to the magazine Macleans.
Q. Why did you enlist in the army?
A. I first tried the Air Force. They accepted me, but said I had to wait six months. I said, in six months the goddamn war will be over. I figured the Seaforths were going somewhere so I joined and I was gone in a week. I figured the war would be over in three months and I’d see Europe without paying for it. Years later, I was still seeing Europe.
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 was the 10 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.
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It's as Zero as it gets #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #ww2 #mindset #military #hardcore