In my eyes it would have been
Ernest Alvia "Smokey" Smith, VC ,CM, OBC, CD 1914 – 2005
He enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in Vancouver on March 5, 1940, aged 25. Initially stationed in Scotland and England during the Battle of Britain he first experienced combat in the autumn of 1942, more than 20 months before the Normandy invasion. On July 10, 1943, he and his fellow Seaforth Highlanders landed with the Canadian First Infantry Division in Sicily and fought through the Sicily/Italian campaign (1943/1944), one of the longest and cruelest campaigns of WW II. By the time of the action in northern Italy that earned him the VC, Smokey had been wounded twice and earned twelve campaign medals.
His action at the Savio River was described in December 1944, by the London Gazette, a Crown publication, as follows:
"In Italy on the night of 21st -22ndOctober, 1944, a Canadian Infantry Brigade was ordered to establish a bridgehead across the Savio River. The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada were selected as the spearhead of the attack, and in weather most unfavourable to the operation, they crossed the river and captured their objective in spite of strong opposition from the enemy. Torrential rain had caused the Savio River to rise six feet in five hours and as the soft vertical banks made it impossible to bridge the river, no tanks or anti-tank guns could be taken across the raging stream to support the rifle companies. As the right forward company was consolidating its objective, it was suddenly counter-attacked by a troop of three Mark V Panther tanks supported by two self-propelled guns and about 30 German infantry. The situation appeared hopeless.
"Under heavy fire from the approaching enemy tanks, Private Smith, showing great initiative and inspiring leadership, led his Piat (Projectile Infantry Anti-Tank) group of two men across an open field to a position from which the Piat could best be employed. Leaving one man on the weapon, Private Smith crossed the road with a companion and obtained another Piat. Almost immediately, an enemy tank came down the road firing its machine guns along the line of the ditches. Private Smith's comrade was wounded. At a range of 30 feet and having to expose himself to the full view of the enemy, Private Smith fired the Piat and hit the tank, putting it out of action. Ten German infantry immediately jumped off the tank and charged him. Without hesitation, Private Smith moved out on the open road and, with his Tommy-gun at point-blank range, killed four Germans and drove the remainder back. Almost immediately another tank opened fire and more enemy infantry closed in on Smith's position. Obtaining some abandoned Tommy-gun magazines from a ditch, he steadfastly held his position, protecting his comrade and fighting the enemy and until they finally gave up and withdrew in disorder.
"Showing 'utter contempt for enemy fire', Pte. Smith managed to get his wounded friend to cover and obtained medical aid for him. Rather than fall back to the safety of the Canadian lines, he then returned to his position beside the road in case there was another enemy attack. There wasn't, and the Seaforths were able to hold the bridgehead on the Savio River, opening the way to the capture of the strategically important Po River Valley in Northern Italy."
Pte. Smith was personally awarded his Victoria Cross by King George VI at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace. Of the seventeen Canadians who were awarded the VC, Smokey was the only private to receive one. It is rumoured that Canadian military authorities, concerned for the personal security of their brand-new VC recipient en-route to London, placed him in a Rome jail cell overnight, one of many stories that Smokey would neither confirm nor deny