Desmond Smith (general)
in Ottawa, CanadaCategory: Attraction
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79 Birch Ave, Ottawa, ON K1K 3G7, Canada Print route »
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Major-General James Desmond Blaise "Des" Smith, CBE, DSO, CD (2 October 1911 – 11 October 1991) was a senior Canadian Army officer active in World War II, fighting in the Italian Campaign and Northwest Europe.Smith was born in Ottawa, Ontario on 2 October 1911. He studied at the Royal Military College of Canada and graduated in 1933. On graduation he was promoted to lieutenant and attached to the Royal Canadian Dragoons. He served in the infantry, and was called overseas in 1940 as a staff officer with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, then stationed in the United Kingdom. He became a brigadier in 1943 and commanded the 5th Canadian Armoured Brigade in both the Italian and Northwest Europe Campaigns. He returned to Canada in 1945, and took over command of the Royal Military College. During the 1950s, he commanded Canadian forces in Europe as part of NATO. He retired in 1962, to start work in the private sector, eventually moving to England. He retired in 1986, and died in London a few days after his 80th birthday in 1991.
