The last VC

Babble on.

Sgt "Smokey" Smith, Canada's last surviving winner of the Victoria Cross, has died at the age of 91 (ht:Smyth). He was a warrior:

"I don't take prisoners. Period," Smith said 60 years later. "I'm not paid to take prisoners. I'm paid to kill them.

"That's all there is to it."

While remarks like that tend to knot up the undergarments of some of our more historically illiterate Canadians, the warrior spirit remains alive and well in today's CF. Armies throughout history have known men like Smokey Smith. Poems have been written about these fellows:

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints:
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints

RIP, Smokey. And in your particular case, I'd guess RIP stands for Revel, Imbibe, and Party.

Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, raise a glass of scotch, take a long pull on your stogie, and say your thanks for men like Sgt Smith.



Babble off.