One of Scotland’s most distinguished war veterans is celebrating his 105th birthday at his Perth home.
And for Walter Smith, it’s a time to reflect on a very different birthday 85 years ago.
On this day in 1940, the teenage Walter had just arrived in France, as part of the 51st Highland Division.
He was captured by German soldiers on the eve of his 20th birthday – with only his cutlery to defend himself.
He spent the remainder of the conflict as a prisoner of war.
Dairy farmer’s son Walter had been a keen biker in civilian life.
He admits he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps aged 19 because he didn’t fancy getting up early with the cows.
He and a pal Tom Webster were riding motorbikes ahead of a staff car containing two officers when they ran straight into a German platoon.
The pair normally carried revolvers, but for some reason they’d been told to leave their weapons behind that morning.
So when Walter reached for the place where his gun should be, all he found were his knife, fork and spoon.
Walter chuckles as he remembers the response.
“The German soldier asked me ‘Have you come here to eat us?’,” he said.
‘For he’s a jolly good fellow’
Walter will celebrate his 105th birthday on Saturday with family and friends at Morar Living’s Kincairney House in Perth.
But the party started a day early with a visit from the top brass, bearing cake and accompanied by a piper.
Representatives from the Lord Lieutenant’s Office, Perth and Kinross Council, the Royal Logistic Corps, the Royal Army Service Corps/Royal Corps of Transport Association, and the local SSAFA branch sang ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow’ in the grounds of the care home where he’s lived since 2023.
Walter is one of the last survivors of the 51st Highland Division, whose name has become a byword for courage and sacrifice.
The Scots soldiers served as the rear guard against the German advance while 338,000 Allied troops were evacuated from Dunkirk.
They were cut off and surrendered after suffering heavy losses at the town of St Valery-en-Caux in Normandy.
Walter and his comrades were marched through a series of prisoner of war camps across Germany and Poland, before being liberated by the Americans in Bavaria in 1945.
And as he celebrates another milestone, events have been taking place in St Valery to mark the 85th anniversary of “the evacuation that never came”.
A life well lived
Following the war, Walter returned to Perth, where he’d spent his childhood at Letham Farm.
And in 1947, he married his sweetheart Violet.
Together they raised a daughter, Pam. He’s now a proud grandfather and great-grandfather.
Walter worked at the Naval Stores in Almondbank, later becoming a full-time driver with the Royal Corps of Transport.
He went on to serve as a driving instructor in the Territorial Army.
He moved to Kincairney House, with support from SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, in September 2023.
Conversation