This article by Martin Day appeared in the May 15, 2004 online edition of The Age of Victoria, Australia. It is reproduced with the permission of the publisher. The Pine Tree Web is pleased to acknowledge the author, Martin Day and the publisher, The Age for their courtesy in extending permission to reproduce the contents of the contents of the article on this site.

Veteran Thanks Comrades for French Honour

By Martin Daly
May 15, 2004

Dacre Smyth at home yesterday. On the 60th anniversary of the D-day landings he will be presented with the Legion of Honour in France.

Picture:Jason South

There are no individual honours for Dacre Smyth - not even the gold Legion of Honour that French President Jacques Chirac will pin on his chest at a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-day landings on June 6, 1944.

"There were other Australian Navy men there, too," the 81-year-old said from his Melbourne home yesterday. "I will accept it in memory of them."

The former RAN commodore will be one of 10 Australian D-day veterans to receive the award, which is France's highest honour. Four of them, including Mr Smyth, will travel to France for the presentations, while the others will be given their awards by the French ambassador in Australia before the end of next month.

The award will be the second for Mr Smyth's family. His father, the late Sir Neville Smyth, was also awarded the French Legion of Honour, along with the Victoria Cross.

Mr Smyth was 17 when, in September 1940, a year after the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy as a cadet midshipman.

He had a "lucky war", he said yesterday. "I was never sunk or injured."

In all, Mr Smyth spent 40 years in the navy.

"I stayed in the navy after the war because I disliked war so much," he said.

"I felt we had to keep our forces strong to prevent future wars.

"Unfortunately, it has not worked out that way but I think people like me, staying in the forces, helped a little."

He celebrated his 19th birthday during the May 1942 battle of the Coral Sea on board the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia.

He was posted to Britain later in 1942 on secondment to the Royal Navy but in 1943 he came back to Australia, serving in this country and the Pacific before returning to service in Britain.

Mr Smyth joined the British light cruiser HMS Danae as a lieutenant in early 1944, serving as a gunnery control office commanding the 6-inch guns that were the ship's main armaments in the naval bombardment force off Sword Beach, where British troops landed. He saw further active service in the Korean War as second-in-command of the destroyer HMAS Bataan.

His final sea posting in 1967 was as the captain of HMAS Supply, providing logistical support to naval ships involved in the Vietnam War.

He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1977, in recognition of his service. In retirement, he has become a well-known artist.

In 1952, Mr Smyth married Jennifer Haggard, the daughter of Commander Geoffrey Haggard. His father-in-law had served in the Australian submarine AE2, which forced the Dardanelles on the original Anzac Day.


			Commodore Dacre Smyth, A.O. is the son of Sir Nevill Maskelyne Smyth, V.C. and great-grandson of Admiral W. H. Smyth (grandfather of Lord Baden-Powell). Commodore Smyth served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1940 to 1978. He was present at the Battle of the Coral Sea, at Normandy, and in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He is an artist, author, and publisher of twelve books of his paintings, including The Bridges of the Yarra, Gallipoli Pilgrimage and Historic Ships of Australia. In 2004, Commodore Smyth was one of ten Australians to receive the French Legion of Honor recognizing his service and that of other Australians on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
			Commodore Dacre Smyth's father, Sir Nevill Maskelyne Smyth, was the son of Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth (brother of Henrietta Grace Smyth) and grandson of Admiral W. H. Smyth. He earned the Victoria Cross for his bravery at Khartoum in 1898, rose to the rank of Major-General and was knighted for his service in the First World War.
			Baden-Powell Family History. A series of links based on the research of Robin Baden Clay, a grandson of Baden-Powell. They are focused on the genealogy of the Powell family. The author is extremely grateful to Mr. Clay for sharing the results of his labors with the Scouting community. Links are provided to pages for three of B-P's brothers: Baden, Warington and Sir George Baden-Powell as well as to the genealogy of the Smyth and Warington families.
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