Page 10 - W.E. West Robert Smith Flip Book Interior

Preface
the first, I have included recollections of my mother, who was the youngest and only daughter of his six children. The second is probably because of trauma as a result of the Second World War, where two sons were missing in action and the family was left wondering about their fate for over a year. In fact, Brian had been killed during the Japanese invasion of Singapore in February 1942, and Russell died as a prisoner of war in Thailand in September 1943. To honour these two sons, I have provided a summary of their military service. During all of my conversations with Grandfather over the years, I cannot recall discussions of these two facets of his life.
My hope is that this book adds to our understanding of the life and times of one of the early pioneers of Orange. I must apologise for any errors in the spelling of names in the text, attributing yarns to the wrong participants, and reporting yarns that did not occur.
Remember, the tapes were made 43 years ago. I must also apologise for my inaction over all these years.
Dr Robert Brian Smith
Marsfield NSW 2122 1 December 2020
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