David Smuck was born in Sarnia, on May 18, 1893, the son of Mrs. Emily Smuck, of 202 South Mitton Street, Sarnia. His many siblings included George (born 1876); twin sisters, May and an unknown female (born 1884); Peter (born 1886); Blanche (born 1888); John (born 1891, who would serve four years in the War, with the Army Medical Corps and later the 48th Highlanders); Bertha (born 1895); and an unknown female (born 1898). David enlisted June 28, 1915 in Sarnia where records indicate his occupation was a barber and he was single. He would become a member of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, with the rank of Private. By the end of July of 1915, David Smuck would be in England.

In early September of 1915, David would write a letter to his mother Emily in Sarnia. In it, he described for her his travels so far aboard ship, as it travelled from England, up the English Channel out into the North Sea, passing along the coast of Spain and Portugal, through the Straits of Gibraltar (“but I did not see the rock as it was about 2:00 a.m. in the morning”), into the Mediterranean Sea, along the north coast of Africa, and then by Algeria. Following is a portion of the letter he wrote, while his ship was anchored in the harbor of Malta:

My Dear Mother,

Just a few lines to let you know we are this far on our trip, and I am feeling fine, hope everybody is well at home. We had a fine trip so far, excepting last Monday, and it was very rough coming through the Bay of Biscay, and I guess I know now what sea sickness is. We left Southampton a week ago today about 2:30 p.m., and we are still on board ship. I hope we soon get off as I am tired of travelling. We have No. 1 stationary hospital from France on board with us. From what I hear they are going to put all the Canadians down in the Dardanelles. They expect to have Constantinople in three months, but you can never tell…..

 The weather here is awfully warm, 110 to 114 in the shade, so that is going some. They are going to give us all a new outfit of clothing, something like overalls with big helmets. We do not hear much about the war at all. I haven’t seen a paper for over a week, so I do not know what is going on. When in Shorncliffe all we could see was men in khaki. There seems to be great numbers of them, and signs up “Enlist Today.” I saw young “Wireless” Smith since I have been over here, from Sarnia, and he said it was something awful in the trenches last winter for a couple of weeks. The water was up to his knees, and you had to half stand up, and if you stood straight up you would get a bullet….

 Well, mother, I think I have told you all for the time. Give all at home my very best.

From your loving son, Dave

In mid January of 1916, David’s mother Mrs. Emily Smuck on Mitton Street, Sarnia would receive the following telegram:

 Ottawa, Jan. 17

Sincerely regret to inform you No. 3676, Pte. David Radcliffe Smuck, No. 3 Stationary hospital, officially reported seriously ill. Jaundice. Will send further particulars when received.

Adjt.-General

David would survive his bout of jaundice. On June 27, 1918, David would lose his life during an enemy attack, while on board the Canadian Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle. Initially listed as, Missing, David Smuck would later be officially listed as, Previously reported missing believed drowned now for official purposes presumed to have died on or since 27-6-18. Lost at sea on ‘Llandovery Castle.’

The HMHS Llandovery Castle was an 11 000 ton Canadian Hospital Ship. It had been chartered by the Canadian Government and had been in the service of carrying wounded and sick from England to Canada for many months. The attack and sinking of the ship was not only one of the most controversial events during the War. It was also the most significant Canadian naval disaster of WWI, and its sinking became the rallying cry for the Canadian troops during the Last 100 Days offensive. In June of 1918, the ship was returning to Liverpool, England after having brought 644 Canadian casualties back to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Being a Hospital Ship, it was, in accordance with international law, clearly identified as such. On each side of the HMHS Llandovery Castle, a brightly illuminated Red Cross was displayed with full strings of electric lights. The ship was unarmed and was sailing without escort. On board, the crew comprised one hundred and sixty-four men, eighty officers and men of the Canadian Medical Corps, and fourteen nurses, for a total of two hundred and fifty-eight persons. According to the Hague Convention, an enemy vessel had the right to stop and to search a Hospital Ship, but not to sink it.

On the night of June 27th, 1918, at about 9:30 p.m., German submarine U-86 made no attempt to search the Hospital Ship and, without warning, it torpedoed the Llandovery Castle, about 114 miles south-west of the Fastnet Rock (Ireland). The Llandovery Castle sank within ten minutes; however, a number of lifeboats were lowered successfully. Those who survived the blast proceeded to attempt to rescue many of the survivors struggling in the water. They were interrupted by the commander of the surfaced German submarine, who started interrogating crew members to obtain proof that the Llandovery Castle was also an ammunition carrier or was sheltering American airmen on board. When the German commander could secure no proof, he prepared for diving and ordered his crew below deck.

The German commander, two officers and the boatswain’s mate stayed on deck. The U-boat did not dive, but started firing with machine guns at the life boats to kill all witnesses and to cover up what had happened. When the submarine did leave, it attempted to ram the lifeboats in the water, and once clear, launched shells into the area of the survivors. To further conceal this event, the commander extracted promises of secrecy from his crew and faked the course of U-86 in the logbook. Only one lifeboat survived the attack. Thirty-six hours after the attack, twenty-four survivors were rescued in the remaining lifeboat. In total, two hundred and thirty-four persons lost their lives in the sinking of the Llandovery Castle Hospital Ship, including all fourteen Nursing Sisters who had managed to board one of the lifeboats.

Sarnia’s twenty-five year old Private David Smuck also lost his life in the attack. He has no known grave and is memorialized on the Halifax Memorial, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Panel 2.

After the War, the British initiated a War Crimes trial (the Leipzig trials) against the officers of U-86. The German commander could not be found and was never brought to trial. The two officers were tried and convicted, and sentenced to four years of hard labour. On their way to prison, the officers escaped, were never recaptured, and never served any time in prison.

SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, L, N, 2C, 2D, 2G