Leslie George Smith was born in Aldina, Leask Township, Saskatchewan to William George and Ethel Smith. He served briefly in the Militia before enlisting in the Royal Canadian Engineers in Saskatoon in January 1941. He was a farmer at the time.
Leslie trained at A6 Engineer Training Centre in Camp Dundurn, Saskatchewan until September 1941 when he was sent to Camp Petawawa, Ontario with the 9th Field Company. He had qualified as a Blacksmith Group ‘B’ in March 1942 and qualified at Group ‘C’ the following year.
On 2 June 1942, Leslie embarked in Halifax and arrived in Liverpool, England six days later. He trained as a reinforcement until May 1944 when he was sent to Italy to join the 10th Field Squadron, arriving after the Liri Valley campaign. He joined the squadron as they were participating in assault training near Rome. The Squadron joined the Gothic Line battle when the 5th Armoured Division assaulted across the Foglia River on 30 August.
While preparing for the assault on Coriano Ridge, Sapper Smith died when a was seriously wounded on the morning of 11 September when a stray shell hit the kitchen tent causing 28 casualties – six killed, three seriously wounded who later died of wounds, and 11 seriously injured. Shrapnel penetrated his upper right chest. Frank was rushed to the 1st Canadian Field Trauma Unit but died later that same morning. He is buried in the Gradara War Cemetery with is comrades Sappers Grewcutt, Halvorson, Heinen, Sheepwash, Smith, Stephenson, Stonehouse and Cooper who all died that day. Sapper Leslie George Smith is buried in Gradara. He was 32 years old.
Mrs. Smith received a telegram telling her of the death of her son on 19 September 1944. Two days later she received an airgraph letter from her older son, who is also in Italy, telling her all about the death of Leslie and how he helped to bury him with a chum. in a beautiful spot overlooking the Adriatic.
Besides his mother he left four sisters and two brothers two brothers, bother serving overseas; Jimmy with the Royal Canadian Medical Corps in Italy and Jack with the Rocky Mountain Rangers in England.
