Lieutenant-Colonel John Kenneth Smith was born in June 1898 and gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers in May 1917. Transferring into the Royal Flying Corps in August of the same year, he flew operationally over the Western Front with No. 46 Squadron, being wounded on 20.11.1917, while engaging enemy troops in a Camel aircraft. Invalided home, he remained in the Royal Air Force until late 1919, when he rejoined the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers in Ireland. Once more attached to the Royal Air Force in September 1921, he flew with No. 60 (Bomber) Squadron in Waziristan, being described in one obituary as a 'daring and skilful Pilot'. Smith was posted back to the Lancashire Fusiliers in September 1925 and served in the 1st and 2nd Battalions in India, Palestine and at home. Advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in May 1940, he was appointed to the command of the 5th Battalion and took it to France where he 'distinguished himself during the fighting which preceded Dunkirk and during the withdrawal his cool leadership and complete disregard for his own safety was an inspiration to the whole Battalion' (Regimental obituary refers). Smith remained as C.O. of the 5th back in the U.K. until 1943, when he assumed command of the 10th Battalion in India. He retired in April 1947 and died in April 1962.