Tom was serving as a stretcher bearer with the 24th Battalion. “Bullets were flying like hail and their big guns were doing their best to stop us” as the soldiers moved against the enemy trenches in early October 1916. “We rushed to their first line, soon took that … then we made for the second line and here is where we lost the most of our men … What was left of us took the trench … I started to do a bit of doctoring. I had tied up four or five fellows and was on my way over to another one when bang! my leg gave way, and I dropped in a shell hole. I cut my pant-leg off and found that the bullet had gone trough my thigh about five inches above the knee. I fixed myself up and waited for darkness. Then I started crawling out. It was two miles and a half to the dressing station, and they were shelling pretty heavy all the way, but I got out with only a scratch or two from them.” Tom Smith recovered from his wound and returned to the 24th Battalion. One year later he was tending to a wounded soldier when an artillery shell exploded on them, and both were killed instantly. Tom’s friend Willard Perry who also served with the 24th Battalion wrote: “I was out on a wiring party between our lines and Fritz’s front when I first heard the news the following night and it was an awful shock to me. Every spare minute we had to ourselves Tom and I were together, and we always shared with each other. I had a box from home on Tuesday. I thought of Tom when I was opening it and I had to just sit down and cry. God be with him ‘till we meet again is my prayer.” Willard Perry was hit by a piece of shrapnel and instantly killed on November 6, 1917. Thomas Smith and Willard Perry were from Yarmouth Co., in Nova Scotia. Thomas Smith’s name is listed on the Yarmouth Memorial, Willard Perry name is not listed. Read their Remembrance pages and letters: Thomas Smith and Willard Perry