John Alan Rae Smith
Person details
| Forename(s) | John Alan |
|---|---|
| Surname | Rae Smith |
| Rank | Captain |
| Regiment | Royal Artillery |
| Age | 28 |
| Death | Missing. Died as a POW |
| Place of Death | Far East > Java |
| Date of Death | 11/06/1945 |
| Year of Entry | 1930 |
| House Letter | D |
| School Notes | Exhibitioner; Editor of the Radleian; Wilson Librarian; Literary Society |
| Comments |
Brother of David Rae Smith, Member of Council, after whom the Rae Smith Building is named Letters describing his life as a POW are in the Wrinch Papers in the School Archives c/o P.O.W. Post Bombay 24 B.G.A. Hospital Town Bangalore, India June 1945 I wish to send my deepest condolences on the death of your son Capt. John Rae Smith. I hope you will forgive the liberty of writing, but it was at the request of >more> Capt. Rae Smith. I was with him continuously from Xmas 42 untill his death at 5 A.M. on the 11th June this year. met him at Tymaki near Bandoeng. he entered the hospital with a slight lung trouble... In this ward were half castes, Chineese, Minadonese, Ambones, 11 English, 6 Australians making a total of over 100 men, the conditions were crowded, the beds being placed close together with no space between each ... within a month the ward was reduced to 61 men by death and transfer... ... in June the Captain died ... and so died our greatest friend leaving the seven remaining Englishmen greatly shocked ... thanks to God for the atom bomb ... Cpl. P. Mooney 2588393 R.A.O.C. L.A.C. W. Maynard 544798 R.A.F. |
| Commonwealth War Graves Commission Link | https://www.cwgc.org/find-record... |
| Unit | 242 Battery., 48th Light A.A. Regt. |
| Prefect | School Prefect |
| Military Decorations | |
| Album Number | 23 |
| Battle | |
| Previous Regiment | |
| Burial or Cemetery | Indonesia > Jakarta |
| Citations | |
| Archives | Correspondence file in OR files in Radley Archives |
| Post School | New College, Oxford; Chartered accountant |
| Prep School | Durnford |
| Prisoner of War | |
| Radlein Obituary |
June 14 1942. Recorded as missing by The Radleian, but not officially posted as missing by the War Office November 21 1943. Recorded as prisoner of war November 25 1945. Died in Java, while a prisoner of war, on 11th June, 1945. John Alan Rae Smith, Capt., R.A. (T) (Stevenson's. D, 1930-35). The news of the death of John Rae Smith while a prisoner of war in Japanese hands, is a bitter blow to his friends, who had been encouraged to hope that they might soon be seeing him again. He was the sort of person that one does not easily forget; from his earliest days here he stood out somewhat from his fellows, inevitably, to some extent by reason of his inches, but more still for his intelligence and his literary interests, together with his forthright manner and strong convictions. He had no use for anything that savoured of sham or insincerity; he was at all times an uncompromisingly honest and honourable individual, with a warm heart beneath, as those who know him well had good reason to appreciate. After a distinguished career here, during which he was a School Prefect and held other such offices as Editor of the Radleian, Wilson Librarian, and Secretary of the Literary Society, he was up at New College, and afterwards went in for Chartered Accountancy. He was commissioned early in 1939. As with so many, there was a long period of silence and uncertainty about him after he fell into Japanese hands; eventually the fact that he was a prisoner became known, and the subsequent news of his death in captivity - so near to the end of hostilities - is all the more distressing. We extend our deepest sympathy to his parents and the other members of his family on the loss of this vivid and memorable person. C.P.T,Wrinch writes:- The year 1933, big with events of public moment, may well be remembered at Radley. From that time onwards the appreciation of literature has become steadily stronger and more general. For this development John Rae Smith was largely responsible. Determined to make the R.C.L.S. "a genuinely literary society and not merely a play-reading congregation", he most fortunately had two years as Secretary in which to give full expression to his creative ideas. Many Radleians who realise how much they owe to the Literary Society in its well-established form little know who was the pioneer. As Wilson Librarian he showed the same clear purpose. Cataloguing was undertaken with unusual vigour - but not for cataloguing's sake. The "English" section was re-arranged and in some mysterious way made really exciting. The Library became the centre of intellectual life. The 1934 Christmas Supplement to The Radleian was another of Rae Smith's conceptions. It remains a unique monument to his editorial enthusiasm. "Essentially an amateur affair", he called it; and indeed it had all the virtues of something done from sheer "joy in the making". It stands as a challenge to the unadventurous and points the way to future editors. III content with accepted standards, impatient of the mediocre and superficial, insistent on the true relation of literature to life, John Rae Smith brought all his pugnacity and critical intelligence to bear on the accepted tradition. His work lives on. Few Radleians have made so vivid and lasting an impression on the life and habits of College. |
| Service Number | 85787 |
| Place of Birth |
