Page 113 - They Also Served

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Jackie Smyth 1912.
John George Smyth, known as Jackie, was born in Teignmouth, Devon, in 1893. Educated at Repton School, he entered Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Indian Army on 24th August 1912, joining the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs in 1913. The regiment was among the first to deploy to France after the outbreak of war, occupying the trenches as the bitterly cold winter of 1914 set in. At the Battle of Festubert on 18th May 1915, Smyth was awarded the Victoria Cross. The citation stated that he and ten men carried a supply of grenades to within 20 yards of the enemy trenches under constant artillery and machine-gun fire. Eight of the team were killed or wounded.
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