Edward Smith (VC) - Interwar

Interwar

According to "The Whitehaven News", a local West Cumbrian newspaper, when he returned to his home town of Maryport after the Great War in 1919, he was greeted by a cheering crowd of 6,000 people, equivalent to the town's total population at the time. Another local newspaper described Ned Smith in the following terms:

"Sergeant Smith is not only a VC but looks it. He is a British soldier every inch of him. He is an A1 man from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. .... He has not only won the VC but he has a chest on which to display it."

He continued serving, from 1918–38, in China, Malalya and Ireland, before retiring with an Army pension having attained the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major. He then joined the Corps of Commissionaires in London for about a year.

In 1921, he attended a Garden Party held at Buckingham Palace by King George V of England for Victoria Cross holders, as the youngest recipient present. He never married.