1914/15 Star named 452 PTE R F SMITH RAMC & British War & Victory Medals named 2 LIEUT R F SMITH.
Robert Fraser Smith was a teacher at Burgess-Street School, Manchester when he lived at 17 Rochdale Road, Harpurhey, Manchester before he enlisted in 1914 into the Royal Army Medical Corps numbered 452. Article in the Manchester Evening News dated 29th Sep 1917 with his picture in uniform. He tried over 20 fighting battalions but was rejected due to his supposed weakness and settled into the RAMC. After training he was sent to Gallipoli on 12th Aug 1915 but his ship HMST Royal Edward was sunk by U-Boat 14 and spent 3 hours in the water before being rescued. He served in Gallipoli and Egypt before being given a commission on 24th Mar 1917. He was sent to France with the 68th Company Machine Gun Corps and was killed in action on 20th Sep 1917 aged only 24 years old in Belgium and is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
