Eric Arthur Smith

Date of birth: 28th January 1903
Place of birth: Ampthill, Bedford, Bedfordshire
Parents: Arthur and Rebecca Smith, Flitwick.
Previous occupation: Office boy
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Leading Telegraphist
Service Number: J93246
Joined Hood: 23rd September 1934
Left Hood: 16th October 1940






Biographical Information: Eric Arthur Smith joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class at HMS Ganges on 28 September 1918, just before the end of World War I, but he saw no seagoing service during that War. Despite this, he was awarded a War Gratuity, and specialised as a Boy Telegraphist even before leaving Ganges. On his 18th birthday he signed on for 12 years’ “Man’s time”. Early in his naval time he served successively in two battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class: Barham and Queen Elizabeth herself. Following a number of drafts both ashore and afloat, Eric joined HMS Hood on 23 September 1934, and she was his last ship. Eric was invalided out of the RN on 16 October 1940 with tuberculosis of the lungs, his service documents recording him as PUNS (Permanently Unfit for Naval Service) and he died on 30 November 1943. It seems that during World War II he was either “sick on shore” or discharged from service. He therefore played no active part in World War II, but nonetheless his name is recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and his last ship is given as Hood. This may have been because, perhaps, his death was deemed attributable to naval service.

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