France Legion of Honour, 5th Class : Mr E D Smout

France Medal of Honour Chevalier Fifth Class. The award is shaped as a five-sided, double-pointed star with ball ends, and is made of white enamel. It is encircled by a green wreath of oak and laurel leaves and surmounted by a smaller, similar wreath as part of the suspender. The centre obverse medallion has the female head of 'Marianne' the symbolic figure of 'La Republique' in gold within a blue enamel circle that has the inscription 'REPUBLIQUE FRANCAIS' over '1870'. The reverse medallion has crossed French tricolour flags on a gold field and surrounded by a blue circle with 'HONEUR ET PATRIE'. A loose ring is attached to the top wreath and has a plain watered red moiré ribbon.

This medal was awarded to Edward David (Ted) Smout who, before he died on 22 June 2004 aged 106, was the oldest surviving Australian First World War veteran. Smout was born at his grandmother's home at Brisbane on 5 January 1898. In 1914, following his education at a number of state schools, beginning at Cunnamulla where his father was a collector of customs, he obtained a clerk's position at the Auditor General's Office.

During the First World War, Smout and many of his friends enlisted. His first attempt at enlistment while underage was thwarted when he was recognised. Unperturbed, he went to another recruitment office and, overstating his age by 12 months, enlisted in the AIF on 10 September 1915. Posted as private 12947 to the 3rd Sanitary Section of the Australian Army Medical Corps, Smout embarked on HMAT Demosthenes from Sydney on 19 May 1916.

Arriving in France in late November, he was almost immediately admitted to an isolation hospital in Le Havre as a precautionary measure after being exposed to mumps. While convalescing he was promoted to lance corporal before rejoining his unit on Christmas Day.

For the next 22 months apart from leave to England, Smout served on the Western Front around Armentieres, Ypres, Passchendale and Amiens. He survived an aircraft bombing raid on his billet at Poperinghe and artillery shelling later near Ypres. In April 1918 Smout was one of the first to reach the wreckage of Baron Manfred von Richthofen's plane when he was shot down and mortally wounded near Morlancourt. 'I admired his fine leather boots,' related Smout to his brother and biographer in 'Three Centuries Spanned', 'but resisted the temptation to souvenir them'.

After the Armistice in November 1918, Smout was promoted to acting sergeant with the Australian Army Pay Office in London. He returned to Australia on 9 August 1919 and resumed his career with the Auditor General's Office. By 1920, the trauma of his war experiences began to take their toll and he was granted sick leave. He returned three months later after working on a sheep station physically fit, but the mental scarring remained for some time.

In 1922 he joined an insurance firm, beginning a successful career that would last till his retirement almost four decades later. He married Ella Stevens in June 1923 and over the next few years the couple had two sons and a daughter. With hostilities again breaking out in 1939, Smout enlisted in the Volunteer Defence Corps and was put in charge of a Bofors gun emplacement in Brisbane.

During the interwar period Smout had joined Legacy, the first of many organisations that would mark his community involvement including Meals on Wheels, the Red Cross, the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and Probus as well as recreational clubs. For his service to the community, Smout was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1978.

Smout was one of fourteen veterans to return to France in 1993 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Armistice. Five years later he was again in France to mark 80 years when he was invested with the French Legion of Honour for his service during the First World War. His son, Westall David Smout, served as a flight lieutenant with the RAAF during the Second World War and was seriously injured during a landing accident at Broughton Airfield in England.