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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Neil Lauretz Smith

In memory of:

Sergeant Neil Lauretz Smith

November 16, 1944

Military Service


Service Number:

R/267154

Age:

19

Force:

Air Force

Unit:

Royal Canadian Air Force

Division:

166 (R.A.F.) Sqdn

Additional Information


From Coutts, Alberta

Commemorated on Page 447 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:
Grave Reference:

Coll. grave 11. A. 22-24.

Location:

Rheinberg is 24 kilometres north of Krefeld and 13 kilometres south of Wesel, in the locality of Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal. The cemetery is 3 kilometres south of the centre of the town of Rheinberg on the road to Kamp Lintfort. From the motorway 57, turn off at Rheinberg and at the T junction follow the 510 in the direction Kamp Lintfort. The cemetery is a short way along this road on the right.

The site of Rheinberg War Cemetery was chosen in April 1946 by the Army Graves Service for the assembly of Commonwealth graves recovered from numerous German cemeteries in the area. The majority of those now buried in the cemetery were airmen, whose graves were brought in from Dusseldorf, Krefeld, Munchen-Gladbach, Essen, Aachen and Dortmund; 450 graves were from Cologne alone. The men of the other fighting services buried here mostly lost their lives during the battle of the Rhineland, or in the advance from the Rhine to the Elbe.

There are now 3,326 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated at Rheinberg War Cemetery. 156 of the burials are unidentified. There are also nine war graves of other nationalities, most of them Polish.

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

Send us your images

  • Newspaper clipping– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of NEIL LAURETZ SMITH– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of NEIL LAURETZ SMITH– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of NEIL LAURETZ SMITH– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of NEIL LAURETZ SMITH– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Service Book– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Document– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Document– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Document– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of Neil Lauretz Smith– Neil Lauretz Smith (1926-1944). Son of H. Havelock & Venice Smith.
  • Group Photo– Pilot; Ted Coles, Bombardier; Ralph Carrol, Navigator; Ken Farrow, Tail Gunner; Eb Leaman, Wireless; Ralph Schnaufer, Mid Upper Gunner; Neil Smith, Flight Engineer;
David Orme is missing from photo
  • Memorial– Sergeant Neil Lauretz Smith is commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Father J P Lardie's comments as inscribed on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Sergeant Neil Lauretz Smith is commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Family gravemarker– Family memorial headstone at Archmount Cemetery Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada inscription reads...
R.C.A.F. Air Gunner
In Loving Memory Of
SGT. NEIL LAURITZ
SMITH
Feb. 18, 1926
Nov. 16, 1944
Died in the service of His Country Over Duren, Germany
  • Crash site– Crash site - Duren, Germany. Photo: Harry H. B. Smith (Brother).
  • Rheinberg War Cemetery– Rheinberg War Cemetery, Rheinberg, Germany.
  • Grave marker for Neil Lauretz Smith– Rheinberg War Cemetery, Rheinberg, Germany. 
Grave Reference: Coll. grave 11. A. 22-24.

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

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