James Henry Robert Smith enlisted to the Second Australian Imperial Force on 5 June 1940. He was initially posted to 2/2 Machine Gun Battalion, but transferred to 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion in October 1940. He embarked for overseas service in April 1941, and served with 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion in Palestine and Syria in the campaign against the Vichy French. In early 1942, he and his battalion were posted to Batavia, Java, to defend the island against the Japanese. In March 1942 the Allied forces on Java surrendered to the Japanese. Smith, alongside the remainder of his battalion, became a prisoner of war, and worked on the Thai-Burma Railway. On 19 July 1943, Smith died of cholera at the Hintok Mountain camp, Thailand. He is buried at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Thailand.