Celebrations for Perth veteran Walter, 104

22 July 2024

A special celebration recently took place at Morar Living, Kincairney House for Perth resident Walter Smith for his 104th birthday.

Along with family and friends, staff, and other residents, volunteers from the local branch of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity were there to wish him well, as were representatives from the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) associations.

Walter was born at Coatbridge, Glasgow and was one of eight children. His father was a dairy farmer and when the family moved to Perth, Walter attended Ruthvenfield Primary School. On leaving school, Walter followed in his father’s footsteps until joining up aged 19 to do his bit in World War Two.

Walter served in the RASC and went to France as part of the 51st Highland Division. The Division recruited from communities across the Highlands and Islands.

On a fateful day in June 1940, about 10,000 men of the division were captured at Saint Valery-en-Caux, Normandy, along with thousands of French soldiers.

Walter was one of those captured, when, acting as a motorcycle escort guiding an ammunition truck, they ran into a German roadblock

He spent much of the war in a PoW camp until early 1945, when as the Russians closed in from the east, their guards marched them west while ahead of them were Jewish prisoners from Auschwitz. Ultimately, their captors their captives surrendered to the Allies in Bavaria.

After the war Walter worked with other service personnel at Almondbank, Royal Naval Stores Depot, for a few years before rejoining the Army as a driver. In that role he drove senior officers all around Scotland before joining the RCT as a full-time driver. He joined the Territorial Army and became a driving instructor.

In 1947, Walter married Violet and the couple had one daughter, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

In September 2023, Walter moved from his family home, into the Morar Living Care Home and the family approached SSAFA for support around top-up fees for Care Homes, and this is an ongoing area of support.

Pam, Walter’s daughter commented that being able to speak directly to Richard, their SSAFA caseworker at what was quite a difficult time, went a long way to putting the family’s mind at ease.

SSAFA was a mere 35 years old when Walter was born. It has helped serving personnel and veterans, and their families, through conflicts famous and now forgotten since then. Through its long-established nursing and midwifery service (founded in 1892), it cares for unborn and newborn babies as well as people, like Walter, of an older generation, and everyone in between.