SECOND WORLD WAR MYSTERY

Search for details on Second World War airman starting to yield results

More details discovered about missing Sydney airman.

As a search for ancestors of a Cape Breton airman who died in Germany during the Second World War continues, some information on the late serviceman has come forward to shed some light on his life in Sydney before he went off to war.

Reginald Bertram Smith was one of seven airmen on board the Halifax heavy bomber NP711 that was shot down over Germany in February of 1945.

The wreckage of the plane was recently found by a historical research community in Germany. They are now working to find information about the airmen in that plane as they establish a monument at the crash site.

Shirley Green, a former nurse at the Camp Hill veterans hospital in Halifax and a former organizer of the local poppy campaign, found information on Smith in a scrapbook her mother, Olive Terrio, had created during the war.

The book of newspaper clippings contains names and information about most of the local servicemen who died during the war.

In Smith’s case, she contacted the Cape Breton Post to share information regarding where he grew up and where he worked before going off to war.

There was even a picture. The article states that Flying Officer Bert Smith, son of Mrs. Thomas Smith, South George Street, was reported missing in action overseas on March 6, 1945.

Smith was an accountant for Sampson Motors on Argyle Street, before enlisting, “popularly known and held in high esteem,” according to the article. Prior to that he had worked with the Royal Bank of Canada at branches in Sydney and other areas.

When Doug McLean, himself a Second World War veteran, heard there was a search for information on the airman, his curiosity was piqued.

And when he learned Green had confirmed where Smith grew up, he knew right away that his former neighbour was the subject of the search.

“I was brought up at 860 George Street and that was across the street from Bert Smith’s home,” said McLean, who helped create a book that lists information on the 950 Cape Bretoners who served during the Second World War and the Korean War.

“He was older than our family, so we never associated with them, but his family lived in that house for quite some time.”

According to MacLean, either Smith’s father or his brother were musically inclined and played in the city band.

He also recalled a sister but wasn’t sure if any of the members of his family were still alive.

Upon seeing the search for Smith, Jennifer Lewis-Collins put her genealogy research skills to use in search of information about him.

“It looks like he wasn’t actually born in Sydney,” she wrote on the Cape Breton Post Facebook page. “He was born in Halifax and moved to Sydney.”

His father, Thomas, was born in England and died in Sydney, she wrote, and his mother, Catherine Monica, had the maiden name of Hayes.

Lewis-Collins told us the mystery soldier had at least two brothers she could find — Ernest Joseph and William T. — and one sister named Grace Isabel.

“They don’t appear to be part of my Smith family, but thought I’d post this for anyone who might be wondering.”

Earlier this week Erik Wieman, who found the plane’s wreckage and is spearheading the monument project, told the Post that descendants often know little more than the fact that an aircraft left an English airstrip and a family member is now laying in a cemetery somewhere in Germany.

“I wanted to change that and tell them what happened. And tell them about my plans for a memorial and research these sites thoroughly so I might be able to give the sons, daughters of the killed airmen maybe something back, something personal I found at the site of their killed family member.”

Green was pleased to know that her mother’s book had been able to provide information to assist with the search for Smith’s ancestors.

When her mother worked to carefully clip each article about the deceased soldiers, she was honouring them, and Green thinks the German monument project is doing the same.

“He’s doing just like she was doing with this, he’s trying to tell people what the war did.”

Anyone with information on Smith’s ancestors is asked to go online to www.ig-heimatforschung.de to learn more information on the project or email Erik Wieman at erik. wieman@gmail.com.

“I wanted to change that and tell them what happened. And tell them about my plans for a memorial and research these sites thoroughly so I might be able to give the sons, daughters of the killed airmen maybe something back, something personal I found at the site of their killed family member.”

Erik Wieman

SUBMITTED PHOTO Olive Terrio’s scrapbook of newspaper clippings contains names and information about most of the local servicemen who died during the Second World War. It has been an invaluable source of information locally for many years.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Second World War veteran Doug McLean, shown above in a photo from the war years, confirmed Smith was a former neighbor who lived across the street from him on George Street in Sydney.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Shirley Green, a former nurse at the Camp Hill veterans hospital and a former organizer of the local poppy campaign, found information on Smith in a scrapbook her mother, Olive Terrio, had created during the war.

SUBMITTED PHOTO This image of Bert Smith appeared in a 1945 edition of the Sydney Post Record. It appeared after he was reported missing in action, when his Halifax bomber crashed in Germany in February of that year.